More than 99,000 households had either their rubbish or recycling collected from the kerbside last week – in the first week of Swindon Borough Council’s new waste collection regime.

Starting last Monday, November 27, crews from the council’s waste team were using new recycling collection lorries on new routes.

And householders were asked to put out their recycling in new containers and new ways, including food waste in caddies issued to thousands of homes.

The council said the first week saw more than 99 per cent of houses have their waste collected, and that residents have shown enthusiasm for having kitchen scraps and leftovers collected, with more than 80 tonnes of waste being kept from landfill or being incinerated.

Councillor Chris Watts, the borough council’s cabinet member for the environment and transport, said: “We’d like to say a huge thanks to local residents for really getting behind the new waste and recycling service changes so far.

“It is the biggest change to our waste service in 15 years and residents have really helped us get off to a good start.

“Our crews have been collecting waste from around 20,000 properties each day and more than 99 per cent of households have had their waste collected, which is a tremendous effort from our staff, who are having to navigate new routes and a new way of collecting waste.

“We always knew there would be some teething issues along the way, so please report a missed collection if your recycling hasn’t been collected.

“If households have put their waste out on the new collection day and we inadvertently missed them from our rounds, we will return as quickly as we can to pick up the waste.

“You can find out more information about the waste and recycling changes on our website, including a list of frequently asked questions.”

The vast majority of households in the borough have had two black plastic food waste caddies and a weighted blue woven bag delivered.

Residents can put out their food waste every week.

For their fortnightly recycling collection, washed and squashed tins, cans, plastic tubs, bottles, trays and jar lids should be put in the blue weighted bag, paper and cardboard should be put in one of the plastic recycling boxes, and glass in the other.

If there is more plastic than will fit in the blue weighted bag it can also be put out, loose, in a sturdy container such as a cardboard box, but not in a plastic bag.

'Normal’ waste should be put out on the other week, as usual.