Westminster City Council is preparing for a new era of waste management, with plans to prioritise pedestrians and boost recycling rates through its upcoming Waste and Cleansing Service Contract procurement. The council has already engaged hundreds of residents, businesses, and managing agents to gather views, ideas, and feedback on the new contract.
The current contract, valued at £58 million annually, is set to expire on 15 September 2027, and the council is seeking a collaborative delivery partner to help achieve its strategic aims. A report on the procurement timeline was presented to the Climate Action, Environment and Highways Policy and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, 10 July 2025, outlining the council's vision for the future of waste and cleansing services. Value-for-money is a key objective of the procurement process. The ability of a delivery partner to help increase recycling and food waste diversion will drive savings on disposal costs, and the council aims to continue to drive innovation to maximize value for money in the upcoming procurement and further improve the recycling rate.
A key focus of the new contract will be on increasing recycling rates across the city, while maintaining the high standards of street cleanliness that Westminster is known for. The council aims to divert 75% of waste from general waste streams to recycling and food waste streams. Currently, only 25% of all waste is diverted, as illustrated in the chart below.
To achieve this, the council plans to work with its delivery partner and communities to ensure that service levels match people's needs and promote recycling behaviours. This will involve addressing challenges such as:
- Making recycling easier and more convenient for residents.
- Guarding against increased contamination of recycling streams.
- Maintaining standards for clean streets.
The council is also committed to meeting the needs of all its communities, recognising the diverse characteristics of Westminster and the challenges of its dense urban fabric. The council aims to meet the needs of all communities as it addresses the challenges of increased recycling and street cleanliness. This will require a hyper-local approach based on engagement. The council is seeking a delivery partner that is collaborative and adaptable to working to advance priorities in an environment where there are no one-size-fits-all solutions.
According to the Waste and Cleansing Service Contract Procurement report, a principle strategic focus for the future service will be: How do we increase recycling across the city while maintaining first-in-class service standards and clean streets?
To inform the approach to driving proactive behaviours, the council is seeking to build a better understanding of the range of lived experiences of waste management, service levels and service use, for those living and operating in the city. The density of Westminster's built environment and range of building types, with often limited options for waste storage in properties and in compact flats, makes this particularly challenging locally.
Westminster faces unique challenges in waste management, including a high daily visitor count and a dense population. As illustrated in the chart below, Westminster has the highest cost per head for waste management expenditures of any borough in London.
Despite these challenges, the council is committed to improving its recycling rate, which currently ranks 28th out of 32 London boroughs. The Waste Contract Specification Introduction outlines the service, legal, financial, and environmental challenges identified in the preliminary service strategy development process.
To achieve its goals, the council is considering various strategies, including:
- Making recycling as easy as possible.
- Introducing containment where possible.
- Adding materials to micro-recycling centres.
- Increasing the focus on materials to encourage recycling in flats.
- Implementing well-funded and frequent communications campaigns.
- Organising 'estate action days' to tackle contamination.
- Targeting further materials for recycling, such as plastic film.
The council is looking for a delivery partner that is innovative and adaptable to the evolving needs of a dynamic, diverse, and complex city. The report mentions the following innovative approaches already in place:
- Micro-recycling centres and mobile community recycling centres for difficult-to-recycle materials
- A food waste service for most kerbside and communal properties, including the UK's first (award-winning) on-demand food waste service
The success of the new waste management contract will be measured not only by the overall recycling rate, but also by street cleanliness standards maintained at current high levels. The council submitted the necessary specification documentation to the Greater London Authority (GLA) on 19 June 2025, for their review to ensure that submitted documents meet the conformity requirements for the Mayor's Environment Plan.