Welcome to our first broadcast for 2026 and a Happy New Year to you. I feel that this is going to be an interesting year and I'm hoping that it will bring an end to the dreadful turmoil ordinary people in many parts of the world have been - and still are, undergoing. Here's to the best possible outcome and a far better world for us all!

Something shortly to take a turn for the better is England's waste & recycling service. Several years in the planning, the new scheme is launching in April and is designed to eradicate what's often termed a 'postcode lottery' when it comes to collection frequencies, what gets recycled together and in which bin - and increase recycling in general. The disparity created by the current scheme means that anyone who's temporarily away from home will likely contaminate the various bins they're faced with, by discarding or recycling waste the way they normally do - not realising that the system followed where they're staying, is completely different from that back at home. Yes it's something I've moaned about on here many times and while I'd like to think my words have made a difference, I doubt that they have.

Food waste segregation is going to be one of the biggest changes for most businesses and households. My borough and others have been doing it for years and its rollout nationwide is long overdue. I've made my own compost for decades and feed wildlife some of our waste proteins, so I'm unable to contribute much, but I'm proud that my general waste never contains food. My tip for anyone new to this is to have a leak-free bag in the fridge and ensure that everyone - family or colleague - uses it to keep the waste as fresh as possible until the bag is placed in the food waste bin the night before collection. We tried using what we'd thought was an airtight plastic box which we kept next to the other bins, but came unstuck after a fly found its way in. Maggots wriggling amongst food look and smell so, so bad; to inflict them on our recycling teams is unforgiveable, so please take note!

I finished my last Leader discussing tips given by the Food Standards Agency aimed at helping us avoid spending the festive season "hunched over the toilet", quipping that I often break the rules. Over the holidays I took what even I felt was a chance by devouring a large jar of month-out-of-date kefir over several days and some 3-week-out-of-date ready-to-eat chilli salmon - plus a fair bit of other stuff that the FSA had advised against, without ill effect. There'd clearly be a lot less waste to recycle if we all learnt to trust our eyes, noses and taste buds when it came to food safety, like we used to years ago...