Blackburn with Darwen’s food waste collecting experiment is showing promising results, councillors have been informed. A status report on the scheme’s first three months in nine borough wards shows that the council is already saving £1,000 each week.

The report by Blackburn and Darwen Council’s assistant environment director Tony Watson was presented before the authority’s Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Monday (September 1).

The pilot is being run in nine wards – Billinge and Beardwood, Roe Lee, Shear Brow and Corporation Park, Livesey with Pleasington, Mill Hill and Moorgate, Wensley Fold, Blackburn South and Lower Darwen, Darwen West, and Darwen East – in preparation for the service’s full rollout on June 1 of next year.

Mr Watson’s report states that the Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council’s food waste collection trial, which began in late April 2025, is now in its third month of operation. The initiative, which includes over 9,205 households across nine wards, is an important step towards preparing for the mandated borough-wide deployment of weekly food waste collections by June 2026, as required by the Environment Act 2021.

“The pilot has also aroused public debate about the trial areas. As of early August 2025, the food waste experiment has shown a good financial benefit.

“The separate collections save the council over £1,000 per week in disposal costs, with food waste collected at a pace of almost 12 tonnes per week. The savings are due to the much reduced cost of processing food waste via anaerobic digestion as compared to standard general garbage disposal methods.

“Lessons about the liners have been noticed, with the biodegradable liners initially provided not being to everyone’s preference, with some residents double bagging their food waste due to the liner occasionally leaking liquid. Additionally, the availability of extra liners resulted in some homeowners running out of 60 liners in less than four weeks, despite the fact that 60 liners should last nearly a year.

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