Preston prepares for major bin collection changes

The first major shake-up of bin collection rounds in Preston for more than a decade is set to take place next month.

It means many residents will see a change to the day on which their household waste is taken away by Preston City Council, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) can reveal.

The move will mean all domestic properties in the authority’s patch have their bins collected on the same day each week – with pick-ups alternating, as they do now, between general rubbish and recycling.   Currently, some addresses are visited by bin wagons on different days within that fortnightly collection cycle.

Meanwhile, two separate recycling collections will be introduced – at different times of the same day for the same household – one for each of the green bins provided for recyclable waste. At the moment, properties have the contents of their red-lidded and yellow-lidded green bins – paper and cardboard in the former and glass, metal and some plastics in the latter – collected in one go by the same vehicle.

The changes will come into force on 20th April, to coincide with the introduction of weekly food waste collections in Preston, as part of a nationwide rollout.

The city’s households will be advised of how – and whether – their collection days will change by the end of this month.

Cabinet member for environment and community safety Freddie Bailey told the authority’s budget meeting last week of the recycling collection split and said of the wider overhaul to which he also alluded:  “The last…major round changes were in 2012 and obviously since [then] we’ve had a number of new houses erected in Preston [and] there’s a much bigger population.

“We do think [the new system] will be more efficient for us [and] hopefully reduce our maintenance costs.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Preston City Council told the LDRS:  “Preston has experienced significant growth in new housing across the city, particularly in areas such as Cottam. This growth means we occasionally have to make significant changes to collection days and areas.

“From Monday 20th April, these changes will be introduced alongside the rollout of food waste collections and will help streamline existing collection rounds.

“The frequency of collections will remain the same, but residents will benefit from having their waste collected on the same day each week, something that is not currently the case for all households.

“More information will be shared by the end of March – and every resident will receive details about the new changes and their updated collection days.”

The new kitchen and outdoor ‘caddies’ required for the food waste collections are currently being distributed to Preston households – a process that will continue until early next month.