Changes to your bin collections

Test Valley Borough Council is committed to the delivery of waste service changes as required by the Environment Act 2021.

In June 2022, the Council agreed plans to introduce weekly food waste collections from 2024, as well as the introduction of 1,2,3 Weekly, a new ‘twin stream’ waste and recycling collection system. This would allow residents to recycle more at the kerbside, including a wider variety of plastics including pots, tubs and trays, cartons, aluminium foil and glass bottles and jars. Having made this decision in 2022, the Council began to plan for its service changes, with funding for vehicles, bins and caddies approved in April 2023.

However, in October 2023, and then again in November 2024, the Government made significant policy announcements, including the introduction of ‘Simpler Recycling’. These national policy announcements were unexpected, conflicting in policy direction, and ultimately impacted our ability to continue with our approved plans.

Now that the requirements for Simpler Recycling have been set in law, a new £50.5 million recycling facility for Hampshire has been approved, which will enable residents to recycle the additional items at the kerbside. Based in Eastleigh, it is expected to be operational in 2028. For more information on the new MRF, please click here and for more information on Simpler Recycling in Hampshire, please click here.

In the meantime, in a positive step towards transforming our recycling services, we introduced our food waste collection service in October 2025. For more information, visit: Food Waste Collection Service.

 

FAQs

We have put together this section to provide further information on the changes. We will continue to update this section based on your feedback and questions as the project develops.

  • Why are you changing the waste collections?

    We want to make it as easy as possible for people to recycle, which in turn will help tackle climate change. It’s a major ambition in our Corporate Plan and something we’ve been keen to do for some time now. The new Environment Act is key too. The Government is standardising recycling collections across the country, ensuring everyone can recycle the same materials at the kerbside regardless of where they live. The Government has also set challenging recycling rate targets which we hope to exceed.

  • Why do we have to wait?

    Unfortunately, since our decision to introduce 1,2,3 Weekly, the Government made significant policy announcements, including the introduction of ‘Simpler Recycling’. These national policy announcements were unexpected, conflicting in policy direction, and ultimately impacted our ability to continue with our approved plans. Since then, all the Hampshire partners have been working together to agree a way forward. In April 2025, the new £50.5 million recycling facility for Hampshire was approved. This will enable residents to recycle a far greater range of materials at the kerbside. Based in Eastleigh, it is expected to be operational in 2028.

  • How will the changes affect me?

    Ultimately, we will be collecting more materials at the kerbside. Weekly food waste collections started in October 2025, but for the moment, we are unable to confirm more details about when the other recyclable items (plastic pots, tubs and trays, cartons, glass bottles and jars and aluminium foil) will be collected at the kerbside. 

  • I don’t have room for any additional bins, what can I do?

    We will be working with residents and providing support. We will help those who have specific issues or concerns, such as space at home.

  • I live in a flat and share bins, how will it work?

    We understand that there can be difficulties with shared or communal bins so we will be working with each managing agent/landlord etc. to agree the best solution for each one. We will also be working with residents to support them through the change to the new collection services. Our aim is to provide our new services to as many residents as possible.

  • Why aren’t you collecting other materials at the kerbside too?

    We are looking to collect as many materials at the kerbside as possible. We will update these pages when we can confirm we can collect new, additional materials.

  • Will these changes lead to fly tipping?

    Items most commonly fly tipped are bulky items or trade waste, neither of which are collected as part of our collection service. It is not anticipated that fly tipping will increase, and this is not the experience of other local authorities who already operate similar collection services.

  • Will these changes lead to my Local Recycling Centre closing?

    We currently have a network of over 100 local recycling centres (LRCs).  We will continue to operate these as we introduce the new collection services, and we will monitor their use. No decision has yet been taken on the future of our LRC network.

If your questions have not been answered please click here to contact us