Hertfordshire's councils - including the body that covers Hitchin - are spending "billions of pounds" collecting household bins because they are not working together, a senior councillor has warned.

East Herts and North Herts district councils have jointly agreed a set of policies which will cover both their areas as officers look to secure a new waste collection contractor – due to take on the service from 2025 until at least 2033.

At an East Herts District Council meeting on Tuesday, October 25, councillors debated whether more councils will work together in the future to save on costs elsewhere in the county.

Councillor Mark Pope (Con, Ware Chadwell) said: "I know from the report the process needs to happen on the grounds of costs.

"We've talked at various meetings about the possibility of having a county-wide scheme. I appreciate that's a long way off, but I wondered if that ever did happen, how might that affect our contract?"

Cllr Linda Haysey (Con, Hertford Rural South), council leader, replied: "We all live in anticipation and hope."

Cllr Graham McAndrew (Con, Bishop's Stortford South), East Herts District Council's executive member for environmental sustainability and is vice-chair of the Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, said he would like waste collection authorities to come together.

He said: "Unfortunately, each district and borough – East and North Hertfordshire are the exceptions to the rule – are very precious about what they actually do.

"They don't see the economies of scale – through procurement, vehicles, skilled staff – and run into billions of pounds.

"The day will come that other authorities join up together and become a unit."

Cllr Eric Buckmaster (Con, Hunsdon) is the cabinet member for the environment on Hertfordshire County Council and executive member for wellbeing at East Herts.

He said: "It is very complex and we are unique in Hertfordshire in having a shared service, but there are consortia for different aspects of waste across the county.

"It can be very complex because different councils have different philosophies, and one or two absolutely won't outsource.

"There may be ways going forward where there can be closer cooperation, and across Hertfordshire Waste Partnership, we're commissioning a study which will go out to leaders and chief executives to identify where further opportunities may be."

The two cabinets on East Herts and North Herts district council have agreed the new terms and conditions which will allow officers to look for a new contractor.

This contract will cover much of rural Hertfordshire as well as some towns, including Bishop's Stortford, Hertford, Hitchin, Letchworth, Royston and Ware.

The plans for the new service include the rollout of 180 litre non-recyclable waste bins in East Herts from 2023, down from 240L.

The district will receive a new, weekly food waste collection service.

Both of these services are already in place in North Herts.

Both authorities are looking to reduce the frequency of non-recycling collections from one every two weeks to one every three weeks to encourage residents to recycle more or cut down on waste.

Bins across the two council areas are set to be uniform in colour – with each household expected to have a blue 55L paper box, a brown 23L food waste caddy, a purple-lidded 180L refuse bin, a blue-lidded 240L recycling bin and – if needed – a brown-lidded paid-for 240L garden waste bin by the time the contract comes into force.

The new contractor should also be able to introduce plastic film recycling from 2025.

A "competitive dialogue" will now take place in an effort to find a contractor.