Policy Briefing, May 2025

The Environmental Act 2021 holds English Local Authorities accountable for the separate collection of household food waste from the 1st of April 2026. To fulfil this legal requirement, the Newcastle City Council piloted a Household Food Waste Collection scheme across 5,183 homes in September 2024 at least once a week.

The aim of this pilot was twofold: to understand the logistic challenges of food waste collection in Newcastle and how to motivate participation in this scheme. To help with the second objective, a team of academics from Newcastle, Northumbria, and Sunderland Universities gathered by Insights North East examined household attitudes towards the scheme and general participation patterns. The findings provide actionable insights to help NCC design targeted, equitable strategies to boost participation as food waste collection expands citywide.

Read the full policy briefing here.

Authors:

• Censoro, J. – Lead for Climate Action, Insights North East and Research fellow at the Department of Geography, Engineering, and Environment of Northumbria University.
• Albrecht, N. – Lead for Data at Insights North East and Research Associate at Newcastle University Souza-Monteiro, D. -Senior Lecturer in Agribusiness Management at Newcastle University.
• Prado, P. – Lecturer in Sustainable and Responsible Business at Newcastle University.
• Wilkie, S. – Associate Professor in Environmental Psychology in the School of Psychology, University of Sunderland, Sunderland.