The biggest change to bin collections since wheelie bins were introduced in South Cambridgeshire villages over ten years ago have begun to improve efficiency and save taxpayers around £400,000 a year.
The changes will see collection crews picking up waste and recycling a little earlier, and working later into the afternoon at some times of the year, and residents are being reminded to either put bins out the night before, or by 6am at the latest.
The overhaul of the collection rounds to over 60,000 homes, has seen only nine homes need to change their regular day of collection and the more efficient collection routes will take some bin lorries off the road, reduce unnecessary travel and fuel costs.
The changes by South Cambridgeshire District Council came into place on 1st September and council waste bosses are asking residents to log online and feedback on any issues so the services can further improve as the new rounds bed in.
The package of changes will also see bin collections get back to the regular pattern more quickly after Christmas so that fewer residents have a change of collection day, minimising chances of missing collections.
As always, residents are being encouraged to recycle as much as possible, including Christmas wrapping paper, and additional recycling will be collected from next to the blue bin.
Residents who fill their black bin at Christmas can also put additional waste our next to their bin on their first scheduled collection after the New Year.
Cllr Mick Martin, South Cambridgeshire District Council’s cabinet member for environmental health, said:
Continued cuts to our funding means there is no other option than find more efficient ways of working and the changes to the rounds we put in place two weeks ago are the biggest we’ve made since wheelie bins we’re introduced over ten years ago. Over the next few weeks the rounds will continue to bed in and as the crews get accustomed to them and the service will continue to improve. As part of the package of changes we are changing the way we collect waste around Christmas and New Year. The festive season normally means there is a knock on effect on the regular collection days throughout January as we catch up, but we’ve been able to get straight back to the regular collection pattern this year by not collecting for a few days between Christmas and New. This aims to stop people missing their reshuffled collection day, and we will assess its success and listen to our residents’ views before deciding what is best for next year.
Bin collection calendars are available online at www.scambs.gov.uk/bins-by-parish but for Milton you can find details of the date and type of the next collection:
- in the box at the left of the village web site home page
- in the footer of each Milton News email
- in weekly Twitter tweets from @MiltonNews
Feedback on the new bin routes can be sent to collection.changes@scambs.gov.uk
