The new recycling service in East Cambridgeshire is set to begin next week (w/c 9 September) for all those homes who have received their wheelie bins this week.

This means all households in Lode, Longmeadow, Mepal, Stretham, Wilburton and Witcham as well as certain streets in Bottisham, Ely and Fordham should put out their blue lidded bins on their collection day.

The green lidded bin should be put out the following week as bins are collected on opposite weeks in addition to the weekly black sack waste collections.

The next areas to receive their bins will be all households in Wentworth and then specific streets and roads in Burwell, Ely, Littleport, Soham and Witchford. Where there are larger towns and villages, the delivery of the new bins is being staggered out as a new collection round is introduced one week at a time.

Liz Knox, Head of Environmental Services at East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: "We would like to thank all those residents who have been so patient this week as we have delivered their new wheelie bins. Such a large scale roll out of a new service can lead to minor teething problems which we have worked hard to overcome and this has been helped by the positive attitude of the vast majority of residents.

"For those people who have received their bins their new service will begin next week, which means they will be able to recycle more of their waste than ever before. In the district our target is to recycle more than 50 per cent of our household rubbish. We are confident that when the roll out is finished in November this is definitely a target we can achieve if we all work together."

The new recycling service involves:

• A blue lidded wheeled bin recycling collection, including paper, glass, food & drinks cans, plastic bottles & hard plastic food containers, cartons and cardboard. This will be collected fortnightly.
• A green lidded wheeled bin collection for garden and food waste. This will also be collected fortnightly.
• Refuse in black sacks continues to be collected weekly. The annual supply of a household’s black sacks is being delivered with the new wheelie bins.

There will also be a fleet of new vehicles for the new services as well as a rescheduling of rounds to reduce carbon emissions.

Properties which have been judged unable to accept wheeled bin services because of space or access issues have been offered an alternative service based on clear sacks for recycling and continuation of the existing brown sack service for food and garden waste.

These changes are possible after East Cambridgeshire District Council successfully bid for £5 million from Central Government to fund a new recycling service and retain weekly waste collections last year.

For more information on the waste and recycling service in East Cambridgeshire please call 01353 665555.