As Eric Pickles never tires of reminding us, environmental services are one of the most high profile areas of local government spending. The Government's overblown rhetoric about the town hall ‘Taliban' conceals a basic truth – we all use waste services and the quality of those services is critical for public perceptions of councils.

Yet despite the importance of these services, waste has been pretty low on the list of innovation priorities over the past decade. Services got a lot better, but there have been few big ideas to compare with say the personal budget revolution in social care. Now the pressure is building up for change.