Bin day is changing for every house in Swindon.

And it will happen immediately after Christmas.

From December 27, the first waste and recycling collection day after the two-day Christmas break, every household will be on a new weekly schedule.

It means that those people who would have normally put their bins or recycling out for collection on a Wednesday - Christmas Day this year falls on a Wednesday  -  will be asked to do so on Friday, December 27.

With Boxing Day this year on a Thursday, those with a Thursday collection will be asked to put out their waste or recycling on Monday 30 December.

Crucially, everyone else will be asked to follow this shift and stick to it.

Those who have, hitherto, had a collection on a Friday should put their waste out on Tuesday December 31, then those with a Monday collection will have their waste collected on Wednesday, January 1, and finally those with a Tuesday collection until now should put their rubbish or recycling out on Thursday January 2.

And this change will remain permanent. For everyone.

The council’s cabinet member for highways and the environment Chris Watts, who has responsibility for waste collection said the measure has been brought in specifically to avoid the sort of disruption that affected the rounds last year, and that even in a good year, costs a lot of money to address.

He said: “One day’s collection covers 20 per cent of households. The only weekdays we don’t collect are Christmas Day and Boxing Day, so , previously, on 27, when collections resume, the waste and recycling for three days gets put out – and it being Christmas there’s more than usual anyway.

“On the 27 crews are confronted by 60 per cent of a week’s rubbish and more.

“It means they can’t get round it all, and that causes backlogs.”

Last Christmas was particularly disruptive with a new collection system and rounds still bedding in, the disruption was severe, with some households waiting days and weeks for recycling to be collected, and the co0ncil nearly running out of room for cardboard at its Cheney Manor recycling site.

A bin hanger detailing the changes will be attached to all wheely bin handles in the first two weeks of December, houses without wheelie bins, and those who receive an assisted collection will get a postcard with the same detail through the door.

The council’s site Swindon.gov.uk/lookup is already listing the new collection days after Christmas for a given postcode.

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