Lambeth's community skip trial will be five events from November to January, one in each town centre, the council says. Locations are due in the coming weeks.
Lambeth will run a trial of community mega-skips from November to January, according to the council’s ruling Green group. The trial is written into the group’s amendment to a motion on fly-tipping and bin collections, which full Council is due to consider on Wednesday 14 October.
The same papers show all three parties on the council now back a call not to roll over the borough’s waste contract with Serco for the full extension it allows.
What the papers say
The motion, “Improving Lambeth’s Waste Strategy”, was tabled by the Liberal Democrats. It is published in the motions report for the meeting, alongside amendments from the Green and Labour groups.
The Green amendment adds one new fact to the motion. It says the council “has announced a community mega-skip trial running from November 2026 to January 2027”. The trial will test demand, running requirements, costs and the effect on fly-tipping. The amendment says the evaluation will be shared with all political groups.
We could not find a public announcement of the trial on the council’s newsroom or its bulky waste pages on 12 October. The papers do not say where the skips will go, how often, or whether they will be free. We will add those details when the council publishes them.
Updated 19 October: the council has now given the trial’s shape in a written answer to a councillor’s question for the 14 October meeting (Council Questions, question 26). The Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Ciara Alleyne, said:
- the trial “is scheduled to commence in November”
- there will be five events between the beginning of November and the end of January
- there will be one in each of the borough’s town centres**
- officers are still choosing locations, and the council expects “to publicise the locations and arrangements in the coming weeks”
The answer does not say whether the skips will be free, and it does not name the town centres. We will add both when the council publishes them.
The bin contract
The motion says the waste collection contract expires on 30 September 2027 and carries an option to roll it over for up to eight years. It names Serco as the contractor.
The motion’s resolution asks the council to:
- not extend the contract for the full extension period
- allow only the short extension needed to keep collections running while a new service is designed
- carry out a review of the contract, involving councillors from each group, before a new tender
- set a new service level agreement, tougher performance targets and remedies for poor performance
The Green amendment leaves all of that in place. So does the Labour amendment. The Green group’s only change to the resolution is on mega-skips.
What changes on mega-skips
The Liberal Democrat motion asks for a mega-skip scheme “funded in the 2027/28 budget and implemented by June 2027”. The Green amendment strikes out that funding commitment. In its place, the scheme would be “informed by the results” of the trial, with any proposals considered in the 2027/28 budget round and introduced by June 2027.
The amendment also adds a line saying any borough-wide scheme “should be based on evidence from Lambeth’s trial”.
Labour’s amendment keeps the original funding wording and adds two points. It notes the Government’s July announcement of new powers for councils on fly-tipping. It also asks the council to consider joining Keep Britain Tidy, at a cost it puts at £1,000 a year.
The figures in the motion
The motion sets out the case with these figures. They are the Liberal Democrat group’s, and neither amendment disputes them:
- 11,132 fly-tipping incidents in 2024/25, as reported by officers in March 2026, with 4,232 investigated and 740 enforcement notices issued
- around 25% of bulky waste collection bookings not fulfilled on the agreed date, from a Freedom of Information response
- two grab vehicles to empty underground bin stores on estates, both out of action from late July to early August, with only one back by late August
- fly-tipping collections in some areas cut from three days a week to one because of a vehicle shortage
- 619 litter bins on Lambeth’s public highways, down 28% from 860 in 2019
The motion also says the maximum fixed penalty for fly-tipping rose to £5,000 on 1 September 2026, five times what Lambeth charges.
It compares litter bins per head with neighbouring boroughs. It describes the neighbours’ figures as approximate, based on available statistics.
On the motion’s figures, Lambeth has one litter bin for every 512 residents. Southwark has roughly one per 281, Wandsworth one per 311 and Lewisham one per 202.
The motion cites Wandsworth’s mega-skip days, held in seven locations twice a month. It says Wandsworth reports a 20% fall in fly-tipping. It adds that Southwark has announced a pilot.
Will it be debated?
Not necessarily. Each group can submit motions, and the report says the Mayor will choose two for debate, having regard to the political balance of the council. Five motions are on the list:
- protecting residents from the climate emergency (Green)
- rejecting the NHS Palantir contract (Green)
- Palestine (Green)
- supporting the RNLI and Thames water safety (Labour)
- improving Lambeth’s waste strategy (Liberal Democrats)
The Greens run Lambeth but won 29 of the 63 seats in May, short of a majority (results by party). Which wording passes, if the waste motion is debated, depends on how the other groups vote.
The meeting starts at 7pm at Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton Hill, SW2 1RW. It is broadcast live on the meeting page. The same agenda includes the adoption of the borough’s Site Allocations plan, which we covered when Cabinet backed it in September.
What it means for you
Nothing changes to your bin collections yet. Your days are on our Clapham bin collection days page.
If you have large items to get rid of before any mega-skip reaches your area, the council’s paid bulky waste service costs:
| Items | Price |
|---|---|
| Up to 3 | £36 |
| Up to 6 | £70 |
| Up to 10 | £116 |
Furniture in good condition that is not upholstered can go free through the council’s collection service with the charity Emmaus. It collects on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the items are resold to support people who have experienced homelessness.
You can report fly-tipping through the council’s street cleaning page. The council asks residents not to touch or move dumped waste themselves.
We will report the outcome after Wednesday’s meeting, and the trial’s locations and dates once the council publishes them.
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