The rundown on brown bins and food waste collections

When will new build estates get brown bins? And when will everyone get food waste collections?

The short version

The short answer for brown bins is - probably when the next ‘cycle’ of brown bins starts in spring 2026. We'll be doing a route review ahead of that.

We’ve written a long version and an even longer version below, because we think it’s a good illustration of how the council has the right priorities and understanding how it all works.

The long version

Just over a year ago we introduced doorstep glass recycling for the first time ever in Leeds - despite the serious financial pressures councils like ours face.

We were able to do this by enabling glass to be mixed with other recyclables in green bins. This is more efficient and more convenient for everyone.

We want to do the same for food waste - allowing you to put it into brown garden waste bins.

But we need extra financial support from the government to do it. The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have said that we should get news on that in the autumn, when the funding settlement for councils for 2026/27 is published.

Depending what that looks like we have a number of options we’ve prepared to move forward on.

If the funding isn’t sufficient to provide food waste collections at that point - or for some reason we can’t get the infrastructure in place in time - then we will consider expanding the brown bin garden waste collection service in the meantime from spring 2026. Almost certainly including new build estates like Woodside Vale.

In the meantime, any garden waste can continue to be taken for free to any of our eight recycling centres open 7 days a week, all year round.

Even longer version - where does the money go and why this is relevant to brown bins

As an aside, you may wonder what council money is spent on if not bin collections. The vast majority - well over 60% - goes on adult and children’s social care.

No, not cycle lanes! The funding for those comes almost exclusively from private building developments and government Active Travel / safety funding.

The cost to the council for housing a child in care with serious support needs is £7k+ per week when they are housed in the private sector. Sometimes much much more, because the child has to be housed alone - so we need to buy up all the beds in that house.

Profiteering in children’s care is a huge issue. When we house children within our own care it costs less and the quality is better; we did just get a completely unprecedented third Outstanding rating in a row for Children’s Care. This is the sort of work we choose to prioritise as a Labour run council.

The Labour government is helping here - they’re introducing a new law to cap the profits that can be made in children’s care. It’s a travesty that the last government let it get to this point.

And on our side we’re expanding council run children’s care as much as we possibly can. The council is buying private homes to offer the small ‘residential homes’ that we have a shortfall of.

If the funding from the government in autumn is partly ring fenced to collecting food waste then it’s very likely food waste collections will come in 2026. But if it’s not, we’ll need to make a decision on how best to spend that money. We’re absolutely committed to introducing doorstep food waste collections, but a key difference between us and other political parties in Leeds is that we won’t rush to do that at the cost of other key services like children’s social care.

And that’s why when the council was run by a Conservative-Lib Dem coalition Leeds Children’s Care was rated Inadequate, whereas under Labour it has been Outstanding for three ratings in a row - 2018, 2022, and 2025.

Thanks for reading!!