Update on the roll out of food waste collections in Kettering and Wellingborough areas

26 October 2026

North Northamptonshire Council is today providing an update on the planned roll out of food waste collections in Kettering and Wellingborough.

In line with the weekly collections already taking place in Corby and East Northamptonshire, North Northamptonshire Council will now roll this out in Kettering and Wellingborough from April 2027. 

Like many councils across the country, North Northamptonshire Council is facing issues with recruiting the additional food waste team members, including lorry drivers, needed to introduce food waste collections for Kettering and Wellingborough.

With this in mind, a decision has been taken to delay the roll out until week commencing 5 April 2027.

To facilitate the roll out, the council will also be changing some households bin days, this will be a change in bin day only and not frequency of collections, with all impacted households being written to in early 2027. This represents the most significant change to waste collection services since the council was established. Staff are committed to ensuring the service continues to operate as smoothly as possible as food waste collections are introduced. 

When central Government introduced the law that requires councils to offer a weekly food waste collection service, councils across the country all came up against the same issues - a rush on buying new vehicles and the caddies required, plus hiring additional staff to facilitate the extra rounds.

Fortunately, we now have the necessary infrastructure and have been doing all we can to roll out the service to Kettering and Wellingborough areas including a lot of work behind the scenes to ensure the roll out runs smoothly.

But we need more staff, especially Class 2 HGV lorry drivers, so if you or someone you know is looking for a role that can make a real difference to local communities across North Northamptonshire, please do apply online via our website.Cllr Chris McGiffen, the council’s Executive Member for Highways and Travel

Food waste caddies have already been delivered to some homes in the areas due to start collections in April. If you have received yours, please keep it until collections begin in the week commencing 5 April 2027. Households that have not yet received a caddy will have one delivered nearer to the launch of the new service.

Weekly food waste collections are already helping residents in Corby and East Northamptonshire recycle more and reduce waste. The service will soon be introduced in Kettering and Wellingborough, supporting a national effort to increase food waste recycling across the country.

Funding for new food waste recycling collections has been provided the Department of Farming, Environment and Rural Affairs.

Further details will be published in due course.

Anyone interested in applying for a role as a Waste driver can find more details online.