WEEKLY bin collections come to an end in West Oxfordshire this week – the last area in the county not to have a fortnightly service.

From Monday, a new regime will mean 43,000 homes in the district will now have five containers to deal with waste.

The last silver kitchen caddies and black food boxes are being delivered to homes this week in preparation for the new service.

Waste food will be collected every week alongside recyclable materials in black boxes, with alternate fortnightly collections of general rubbish in new grey bins and garden waste in old black bins.

Residents have to sign up for the garden service and can ask for unwanted large black bins to be taken away, though removals won’t take place until the new year.

The new bin service is expected to save council taxpayers around £500,000 a year and £2m in landfill costs over the next seven years.

West Oxfordshire District Council said the move was essential to boost its 34 per cent recycling rate. It expects the increase will come mainly from food waste.

About 187 tonnes, equivalent to the weight of 27 elephants, goes into landfill sites at the moment. From next week, food waste will be taken to a plant near Cassington to be converted into electricity and a soil conditioning fertiliser.

Councillor David Harvey, cabinet member for the environment, said: “This is what the people of West Oxfordshire have asked us for.

“They were absolutely clear that they want to increase the amount they can recycle, and we are providing the facilities to do that.”

Councillor Richard Andrews, leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, backed the scheme.

He said: “We are very pleased with both the economic benefits to the district and the potential for achieving very high levels of recycling.”

Before the General Election, the Tories had pledged to reinstate weekly rubbish collections, but Cllr Harvey said the party’s position had changed and that the Government was happy with the council’s new scheme.

He said: “We have explained what we are proposing and they are perfectly happy with it.”

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, responsible for recycling, said: “Local authorities are best placed to decide what collection service works for their area.”

They said: “One of the areas that Defra’s waste review is currently looking at is how government can work with local councils to increase the frequency and quality of rubbish collections.”

witney@oxfordmail.co.uk

  • If you are a West Oxfordshire resident and have a query about the new service, call the council hotline on 01993 861025 or visit the council’s website, westoxon.gov.uk