Currently, local councils take different approaches to recycling, which can cause confusion for residents. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has proposed to standardise collections across the country so people know what materials can and cannot be recycled, regardless of which part of the country they are in.

Weekly collections of food waste will also be introduced for most households across England by 2026 in a bid to stop a trend towards three- or four-weekly bin collections seen in some local authorities across the UK, particularly in Wales.

The government is proposing new exemptions to make sure that waste collectors will be able to collect dry recyclables together, in the same bin or bag, and collect organic waste together to reduce the number of bins required.

At the Conservative Party conference last month Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, claimed that his party would scrap “plans for households to have seven recycling...