Refuse and recycling collections are set to change in the Cumberland area, providing a fairer and more efficient service.
Following a public consultation and comprehensive review of the current arrangements, Cumberland Council will soon introduce the following:
Garden waste collections - From week commencing Monday 31 March 2025 all householders with garden waste bins will continue to have one bin collected every fortnight (March - November).
There will be a yearly charge of £40 per additional bin that residents request to be collected. This is consistent with the approach in the former Copeland area.
Residents will be able to make a payment for extra bins from week commencing 10 March.
Collections are fortnightly between March and November each year.
Waste collections: former Allerdale area - Collections will be the same as the Carlisle and Copeland areas. Waste collections will be fortnightly from May 2025.Cardboard/paper collections will increase from monthly to fortnightly from September 2025.
Householders will be given the opportunity to request a free replacement 180 litre bin (most residents have a 120-litre bin). Requests can be made from April.
Recycling: Carlisle area - Carlisle households currently have a mix of boxes and bags for their recycling collections. From May 2026 they will be provided with wheeled bins to make it consistent with other areas within Cumberland. Paper and cardboard will be collected in one bin while glass, tins, cans and plastics in another. The frequency of these refuse and recycling collections will not change.
The changes will:
Support fairness: the plan is to provide all residents with the same level of waste collection service.
Increase recycling: These changes will help increase recycling rates, reducing the impact of waste on our environment in Cumberland.
Ensure a more efficient service: The council collects 99% of bins on time. These changes will help them improve efficiency and maintain a high level of reliability across Cumberland.
Councillor Denise Rollo, Cumberland Council Executive Member for Sustainable, Resilient and Connected Places, said:
"The former Allerdale, Carlisle and Copeland areas of Cumberland currently have different kerbside collection services - including how often it is collection and how it is collected.
"The changes to our service will provide a reliable and efficient waste collection service while ensuring fair and consistent access for all households."
For updates on the new refuse and recycling service, visit the council’s website.
Building on our public engagement earlier this year, Cumberland Council invited residents to have their say on how their waste and recycling is collected in the future.
Residents were invited to share their views on, amongst other things, the frequency of waste and recycling collection in the former Allerdale area and charging for additional garden waste bins.
The public consultation received 3,495 response. It was held between Friday 6 December 2024 and Wednesday 8 January 2025.
The outcomes of the consultation were as follows:
The majority of responses were from the former Allerdale area (58.63%).
The majority of respondents had only 1 - 2 people in the household (63.55%).
The majority of respondents felt it was important to have a consistent service (58.32%).
The majority of respondents felt it was important to encourage recycling (92.68%).
A significant number of respondents disagreed with the proposed fortnightly collection in Allerdale (40.57%) of which 31.44% strongly disagreed and 9.13% disagreed (32.88% agreed with fortnightly collections 21.63% did not express a view and 4.92% chose not to answer the question)
The majority of respondents agreed with a change to bins from boxes in Carlisle for recycling (53.44%) of which 35.16% strongly agreed and 18.28% agreed.
A large percentage of respondents agreed with an increase to fortnightly paper and card collections in Allerdale (48.75%).
The majority of respondents have a garden (91.04%).
The majority of residents did agree to a seasonal collection from March - November for garden waste collections (64.12%).
A large percentage of respondents agreed with the introduction of a charge for additional garden waste bins (41.77%).