Wandsworth residents recycling 25% more

The Cleaner Borough Plan aims to create a cleaner, greener borough and give residents pride in their street.

Thanks to service upgrades that make recycling simpler and easier, the council now collects the equivalent of one extra recycling bag for every four collected in 2022/23, amounting to more than 9,000 tonnes of additional recycling since June 2024.

A major driver of the increase has been the rollout of free food waste recycling, launched in 2024. Starting with homes that have space for a food caddy and now extended to almost all flats across the borough, food recycling alone accounts for over half of the additional recycling and is converted into energy and biogas for businesses, vehicles and communities across London.

In addition, the council has guaranteed to maintain weekly rubbish and recycling collections and supports residents to recycle by providing free recycling sacks.

Cleaner Borough Plan

Other improvements as part of the Cleaner Borough Plan include:

• Two free bulky waste collections per year for every household, with over 26,000 appointments booked to date
• Double the number of collections every week for flats above shops in busy town centres
• Twice monthly Mega Skip Days in more areas, helping to reduce fly-tipping by 20%
• Increased total town centre cleaning
• 50 new litter bins in areas helped chosen by residents
• A new fleet of modern and environmentally friendly waste collection vehicles which run on cooking oil, cutting carbon emissions by 90%
• New recycling enclosures on housing estates to make bin areas tidier and make it easier for residents to recycle
• An improved yearly real Christmas tree recycling service, with extra drop-off locations

Paul White, Cabinet Member for Environment, said: “Thank you to everyone for recycling more and helping us reach this record rate. It makes a huge difference in creating a cleaner, greener borough we can all be proud of.

“We’re continuing to improve these services by listening to residents and making recycling simpler.

“Our Cleaner Borough Plan is delivering for local people, all while residents continue to pay the lowest Council Tax in the country.”