Householders in Swindon who don’t sort their recycling into the correct receptacles will not have it collected from the kerbside, councillors were told.

Swindon Borough Council’s head of end-to-end waste collection Rob Brown told councillors on the authority’s overview and scrutiny committee that it was vital that different streams of recycling were not mixed, as that could contaminate an entire load.

At the moment, the council is sending out new weighted blue bags and two plastic food waste caddies to houses and flats all across Swindon in preparation for the roll-out of a new recycling collection regime.

When that is in force once a fortnight a household will be asked to put paper and card into an existing black or orange recycling box, and glass into a different box.

Plastics and metal recycling should go into the woven rectangular weathered blue bags which are being delivered at the moment.

Food waste should be put out weekly in the larger of the black caddies, with the smaller one designed to be kept in the kitchen and emptied into the large one.

Routes and collection days are also being changed borough wide.

Committee member Councillor Jake Chandler asked the cabinet member responsible Chris Watts and Mr Brown what would happen: "If someone hasn’t paid any attention to any of the communications and puts out their bins after their new collection date?”

Mr Brown said: “If someone doesn’t want to take part in the food waste collection and puts it in their normal bin, then we’ll collect it. We can’t do anything about that.

“But if it’s put out on the wrong days, or if glass it put in with metal and plastics then we won’t be able to take it.

“Contaminating one stream of recycling with another would mean the whole load is unusable, so we can’t take it.

“The key will be explaining this to people rather than just not taking what they’ve put out.”

Mr Brown added that plastic recycling put out in a plastic sack as it is now would also not be collected, and it should be put into the new weighted blue bag.

Committee chairman Councillor Dale Heenan asked: “What if people find they need an extra box or weighted bag? What’s the process for getting them?

“Mr Brown said there were plenty in stock with the new blur bags available from libraries."

Cllr Watts said: “Wash and squash is the message. If people wash and squash their cans and plastic they can get more in, and the crews will have to make fewer trips back to unload and they’ll get through the rounds quicker.”