How effective targeting of communal collections and food waste can boost recycling performance

27 April 2026

The latest local authority recycling results are in. Unsurprisingly, many of the highest-performing councils are leafy, lower-density areas where organic waste (food and garden waste) already makes up a significant share of recycling, rather than densely populated areas with high instances of communal collections.

Stratford-on-Avon District Council leads the way nationally, achieving both the highest recycling rate (63.9%) and the lowest residual waste per household (284kg per household). Taken together, these figures demonstrate the substantial impact that well-designed food waste collection services can achieve.

Food waste collections are a central pillar of the UK Government’s Simpler Recycling reforms. While mandated for all English councils, rollout of these services remains uneven, particularly in areas with large numbers of flats, where providing consistent, convenient food waste and dry recycling services becomes significantly more complex.

*With a high amount of legacy and new-build flatted properties London boroughs face a real challenge around delivering effective communal collections*

The communal recycling challenge

Many of the lowest-performing authorities (where recycling performance languishes anywhere between 4% and 25%) are increasingly in densely populated urban areas where communal properties can account for more than half of the housing stock. Delivering effective recycling services in these environments – especially food waste collections – continues to be challenging for local authorities and residents alike, even where councils have invested heavily in service improvements.

These figures highlight a long-standing, system-wide issue: how can we deliver cost-effective, practical, and engaging recycling services for residents living in flats that require communal collections?

Turning communal collections from a weakness into a strength

Cracking the communal recycling conundrum is fundamental to break England’s stagnating recycling rate. Unlocking better performance in communal settings is essential if we are to change the trajectory, improve material quality, reduce contamination, and cut disposal costs.

With Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) funding beginning to flow and Simpler Recycling requirements taking effect, more authorities are now looking to strengthen their communal collections recycling services. The ambition is there – but delivering change at pace and scale requires a clear understanding of what is already in place and what needs to change.

Improvement starts with evidence

Transformation of communal flats recycling performance can only start with a detailed picture of existing communal infrastructure, service provision, and resident experience. This means carrying out site-level assessments to understand, among other things:

Current bin provision and condition
Storage space, accessibility and safety
The feasibility of introducing or expanding food waste collections
Signage quality, clarity and visibility
Changes needed to support Simpler Recycling requirements

Equally important is understanding residents’ lived experiences of current services and their motivations for positive change; this requires engaging with on-site staff, property managers, landlords and residents to uncover practical barriers to participation, which can range from access issues to confusion about what goes where.

This combined evidence base allows authorities to move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions and provide services that work within localised contexts. While some improvements will be universal and applicable on a borough-wide basis, flatted properties are generally highly variable, and effective interventions must be tailored (or adaptable) at site level.

Typical changes might include improved or relocated containers, clearer signage, or targeted communications for residents and landlords to address contamination, misplaced materials, or the introduction of new services.

Having carried out recent waste composition and recycling engagement studies in London and in other authorities across the UK, we have deep insights into the differences between kerbside and communal recycling performance in both higher- and lower-density areas, and are able to share expert recommendations on which items and materials should be prioritised in recycling communications to drive performance improvements.

Designing recycling into architecture

Insights from communal recycling assessments can also inform and improve local planning policy for achieving high recycling performance in both existing and new-build flats. Evidence from existing developments helps to shape clearer, more practical requirements for waste and recycling storage, access and servicing in new high-rise schemes.

Adopting recycling-first policies in local development plans is essential for ensuring that easily accessible and straightforward recycling systems are designed into the next tranche of housing developments from the outset, and not shoehorned in at the end, creating the same problems over again.

Reaping the reward for thoroughness

From current and recent work with London boroughs, we know firsthand that flatted properties present some of the toughest barriers to higher recycling rates, but they also offer the greatest potential gains in terms of how much improvement positive change can yield. The ReLondon Flats Recycling Package toolkit – developed with fieldwork and data collection by Resource Futures – was created to support service providers, building managers and housing providers.

The toolkit, updated in 2025, applies learnings from a two-year research initiative and live trial in London that resulted a 26% increase in recycling across the 1,600+ high-rise households that participated.

Drawing on this experience and our best-in-class data gathering expertise, we work with local authorities and their communities to implement the Flats Toolkit and support authorities to better understand their communal services and take practical steps to improve access, participation and performance.

Our support spans the full journey — from communal infrastructure assessments and stakeholder engagement to strategic waste planning and communications development. We work alongside local teams to provide additional expertise where needed, or to build in-house capability in participation monitoring, doorstep canvassing and resident engagement.