Public money · peer comparison

Waste and recycling: every London borough ranked by spend per resident

33 councils · median £99.81/person · mean £152.58/person. From MHCLG Revenue Outturn 2024-25.

RankCouncilControlSeatsPopulationTotal spendPer residentvs median
1City of LondonInd
15,111£20.3m£1342.07+1245%
2WestminsterCon
209,996£71.2m£339.13+240%
3Kensington and ChelseaCon
144,518£41.9m£289.79+190%
4Hammersmith and FulhamLab
188,687£44.8m£237.41+138%
5Tower HamletsASP
331,886£75.3m£226.99+127%
6IslingtonLab
223,024£34.4m£154.27+55%
7SouthwarkGreen
314,786£47.2m£150.02+50%
8GreenwichLab
299,528£44.8m£149.59+50%
9HackneyGreen
266,758£39.2m£146.89+47%
10CamdenLab
216,943£29.9m£137.79+38%
11LambethGreen
316,920£41.6m£131.25+31%
12BexleyCon
256,434£29.2m£113.91+14%
13LewishamGreen
301,255£33.3m£110.61+11%
14MertonLab
218,539£22.6m£103.49+4%
15BromleyCon
335,319£34.5m£103.00+3%
16BrentLab
352,976£36.1m£102.33+3%
17Kingston upon ThamesLD
172,692£17.2m£99.810%
18CroydonCon
409,342£37.7m£92.00-8%
19HaringeyGreen
263,850£23.4m£88.86-11%
20Richmond upon ThamesLD
196,678£15.7m£79.75-20%
21Waltham ForestGreen
279,737£22.2m£79.52-20%
22RedbridgeLab
321,231£25.4m£78.94-21%
23NewhamNEW
374,523£28.5m£76.20-24%
24SuttonLD
214,525£16.1m£75.27-25%
25HounslowLab
299,424£21.5m£71.67-28%
26EalingLab
385,985£26.7m£69.14-31%
27EnfieldCon
327,434£20.9m£63.76-36%
28WandsworthCon
337,655£20.8m£61.65-38%
29HillingdonCon
329,185£19.5m£59.24-41%
30Barking and DagenhamLab
232,747£13.2m£56.65-43%
31BarnetLab
405,050£21.2m£52.38-48%
32HaveringRef
276,274£14.2m£51.40-49%
33HarrowCon
270,724£11.0m£40.49-59%

What this shows. Net revenue expenditure on the waste and recycling bucket from each council’s 2024-25 Revenue Outturn (RO) submission to MHCLG, divided by ONS mid-year population. Higher per-head doesn’t imply waste — it can reflect demographic need (e.g. more older residents), rurality, or policy choice (e.g. retaining in-house services rather than contracting out). Lower per-head doesn’t imply efficiency — some councils have moved costs to fees, grants, or a ringfenced account.

Caveats. Councils under MHCLG suppression for 2024-25 don’t appear here (Birmingham, Slough, Cumberland and others — see their council card for the reason). Comparisons across the tier line don’t make sense, which is why this table is filtered to one council type at a time. Source: MHCLG Local Authority Revenue Expenditure and Financing.