Havering Council has announced that the introduction of the service will be postponed until after October 2026.
This is due to a delay in the delivery of vehicles needed to carry out the collections, the authority said.
Havering had initially aimed for the service to commence earlier, but a council spokesperson said the high demand from other local authorities looking to launch similar services caused the hold-up.
Despite this setback, the council has stated that it is ahead of some other boroughs as it has already ordered the necessary vehicles and is in the process of purchasing containers.
Concerns over limited funding and the ability to deliver the service have been raised, with the council continuing to lobby the government for more support.
Under the Environment Act 2021, all councils are required to have separate food waste collections in place by March 2026.
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The introduction of a borough-wide separate food waste collection service will support the goal within Havering’s Climate Change Action Plan 2024-2027 to reduce the impact we have on the environment, the council said.
Council leader Ray Morgon said: “The aim of the service is to support residents, including our school children, to learn and play their role in helping to make Havering a more sustainable borough.
“Separate food waste collections will mean that scraps and left-over food can be put towards generating something useful such as electricity.
“It is vital we all do what we can to reduce the impact we have on the environment around us, but we need support to do this.”
