Smaller bins or fewer refuse collections are expected to be among future measures recommended by an ongoing county-wide waste management study, councillors have been told.

Last year, council leaders from across Hertfordshire commissioned the Herts Waste Study, to review local authority waste management arrangements in the county.

Work on the study, which began in December, is still ongoing – and its report is yet to be finalised.

But, on Monday, April 24, an update – including ‘likely recommendations’ – had been reported to members of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership.

According to information circulated to partnership members in advance of the meeting, ‘likely recommedations’ from the study include reductions in the capacity of residual waste bins or in the frequency they are collected.

They are likely to include a recommendation that the range of materials collected for recycling or composting is consistent across the county.

It adds that they are likely to include recommendations on the roll-out of separate food waste collections to those authorities that don’t yet offer them – as well as the expansion of food waste collections to include flats and trade waste customers.

The ‘likely recommendations’, says the report, are still subject to feedback.

And even when finalised, any decisions on whether or not to implement the study’s recommendations would be taken by each of the 11 councils within Hertfordshire individually.

Other ‘likely recommedations’ to be presented to members of the Herts Waste Partnership, as part of the update on the study, include possible ‘enhancements’ to the county council’s network of recycling centres and the development of council-owned depots with links to alternative fuels.

The Herts Waste Study has been designed to look at a number of areas, including a review of existing waste services, waste volume forecasting and ‘options development’.

It is also said to cover carbon analysis, as well as delivery models and partnering arrangements.

According to the report due to be presented to the partnership, a final draft of the study is expected by the end of April.

Last year, residents in the East Hertfordshire and North Hertfordshire districts were notified that they could see a drop in the frequency of their non-recycling bin collection from 2025, according to plans being drawn up by two local authorities.

Officers from East Herts and North Herts councils say a once-every-three-week bin collection would encourage more households to recycle.

More recently, fly-tipping concerns were raised after a councillor said changes to district bin collections could cause figures to rise.

Under agreed plans, Labour and Liberal Democrat-led North Herts Council will introduce three-weekly collections for purple bins from 2025.