Simpler Recycling update

In recent weeks, household waste and recycling collections in Thanet have been disrupted for some residents.

We understand the frustration this has caused and thank our residents for their ongoing patience and cooperation as we work through these challenges.

We recognise that the service hasn’t been at the standard residents expect. In April we changed collection arrangements for one third of households in Thanet. This has been a big period of change and some issues have resulted.  

We have now made further changes to our waste and recycling rounds to ease the collection issues. We are working on additional measures to help to get operations back to where they need to be. 

Simpler Recycling is a national change to the way waste and recycling is collected, which aims to standardise collections and drive up recycling rates. We are already seeing more household waste being presented as recycling.

As we head into the summer months, stabilising household waste and recycling collections will not result in a reduction of beach or street cleansing. The council has already allocated and deployed additional resources specifically for beach cleansing.

At the Overview and Scrutiny Panel (OSP) meeting on Tuesday 16 June 2026, Councillors agreed to hold an Extraordinary OSP meeting to discuss the current situation. The date of this meeting is still to be confirmed.

We are committed to resolving this matter as quickly as we can.