New waste and recycling contract commencing March 2024

A new waste and recycling service across Ashford begins Monday 25 March. The new service will bring new technology and industry improvements, whilst retaining large parts of the existing service, which helped make Ashford one of the best recycling local authorities around.

Recent figures from Defra show that the Ashford borough has the highest recycling rate in Kent, with a recycling rate of 51%.

Fortnightly collections of general waste and recycling will continue across the borough, alongside the weekly food waste collection and the optional fortnightly garden waste collection.

The new vehicles are being funded directly by the council to help save costs. The vehicles will be more modern and use electric bin lifts. This will help reduce the consumption of diesel dramatically, helping lower the services’ carbon footprint.

As well as our waste collections service, our street cleansing service will be delivered by our new contractor SUEZ recycling and recovery UK Ltd. The new contract includes proposed improvements to the level of cleansing in rural and residential areas, as well as quicker response times on removing fly-tipping.

Last year Ashford was one of three Kent councils, alongside Maidstone Borough Council and Swale Borough Council, who signed the new waste and recycling contract with SUEZ, worth around £19m per year across the whole Mid Kent contract.

The current service will continue to be delivered by the Mid Kent Waste Partnership along with Biffa Municipal Ltd until the start of the new contract.

For more information, including FAQ's on the new service, a reminder of what items should be placed in which bin and recycling advice, download the new waste and recycling service guide [pdf] 11901KB.

Summary of key benefits of the new service:

• Most staff will stay the same, as there is a requirement for staff to move from one contractor to the next, therefore we will be keeping a consistency in the service.
• We will continue employing local skills and people as the majority of staff are local residents and by keeping the same collection and cleansing staff this means they retain the local borough knowledge of collections and the area.
• The collection system will stay the same as we will maintain the popular fortnightly recycling round, a fortnightly general waste round, weekly food waste collections and the optional fortnightly garden waste services.
• While the rounds will stay the same, it is likely that after the 25 March 2024, residents’ collection day will alter, leading to a more efficient collection schedule overall.
• Food waste will continue to be collected separately but it can seem confusing with it going into the back of the same truck (albeit in separate sections). The new vehicle fleet has the point of food waste at the side of the truck, showing a clear separation between the different types of waste collected.
• There will be a different service for collecting textile and small electrical (WEEE - Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) items. Collections can be arranged when booking a bulk collection and also through roadshows, where a specific vehicle attends locations across the borough throughout the year.
• Bulk collections will be re-used where possible, with the new contactor partnering with the charity Demelza House, so that items that can be re-used rather than go to waste.
• The new contract will help in reducing the council’s carbon footprint as the new vehicles are Euro VI which has lower emissions.
• The new contractor also intends using a small number of electric vehicles which, combined with route and round upgrades, amounts to a 16 tonne reduction in carbon emissions.
• We have ensured costs are kept as low as possible by working in partnership across the three authorities to tender for the new contract.