Residents to get new bin days imminently ahead of food waste change

Over the last few weeks, 85,000 households have begun to receive a new blue weighted sack for plastic and metal as well as new caddies for food recycling waste.

This is all for a new waste collection scheme that the council hopes will see its currently recycling rate of 40 per cent of households, which makes Swindon the lowest in the region, drastically improve. 

Locals have been told not to use their new bins until further instructions have been sent out, but now the council has now revealed that the next steps in the town-wide rollout will begin.

One of the new waste collection lorries in Swindon (Image: Newsquest)

Starting on Friday, October 27, people will start getting letters telling them exactly when their new bin days will be and when to start using the new bins.

The collections will be split into two - one week will have general waste and food waste and the other week will have recycling and food waste, but this will not officially start until the launch date of November 27.

Councillor Chris Watts, who has been the cabinet member overseeing waste collections since Labour took charge of the council back in May, has urged people to get behind the scheme because it will greatly benefit the town. 

Councillor Chris Watts is the cabinet member in charge of waste services in Swindon (Image: Newsquest)

"Better recycling will mean the waste collection service can run more efficiently, so there will be less of a strain on it. But also, we should all be doing the best we can for the environment and this change is vastly better than the previous one in that respect," he said. 

He explained that the council will also get paid for the food waste it recycles, which will mean that the service almost pays for itself. 

To get ready for the change, new staff have been recruited and 22 new vehicles have been purchased, which should mean an end to the well-documented issues of missed and dropped collections during the summer.

"This is the end of an immense amount of work, especially considering the problems we've had due to the failure of vehicles and staff shortages. We're very pleased to see it almost come to fruition as it will secure a viable waste and recycling service for the council for the future," Coun Watts added. 

"But it is so important that people give it a go and also understand that there may be some teething problems as it begins, there will be backups in place, but we would still ask that residents bear with us."