Residents will be able to start recycling even more materials from their homes this national Recycle Week, as Merton Council prepares to start a new recycling and rubbish collection service to boost the borough’s recycling rate.

From 1 October, textiles and household batteries will be included in the Council’s household collection service, as well as paper and card, plastics, cans, cartons, glass and food waste.

The new collection service will see most households using wheelie bins, which have recently been delivered. Residents can start using their new wheelie bins after their recycling and rubbish collection this week.

More than 64,000 households have each received their two new wheelie bins in preparation for the new recycling and refuse collection service that starts on 1 October. The change affects about three quarters of Merton residents. The blue-lidded wheelie bin is specifically for recycling paper and cardboard and the black bin is for non-recyclable rubbish. Houses will continue to use their green and purple boxes for recycling plastics, cartons, cans and glass and their food waste caddies for unavoidable food waste.

Food waste, textiles and household batteries will be collected every week. Recycling will be collected on an alternate weekly basis – paper and cardboard in the blue lidded wheelie bin one week and plastics, cans, cartons and glass the other week. The black lidded wheelie bin for waste that cannot be recycled will be collected on the same day as the paper and card wheelie bin.

Most recycling and rubbish collection days are changing from 1 October. Residents can check their collection day by referring to the information pack delivered with their new wheelie bins or looking on the Council’s website: merton.gov.uk/recycling

The new recycling and rubbish collection service aims to increase recycling from 37% to 45% within 12 months. It will save £1.6million a year, which will be used to protect vital services. It will also keep the borough’s streets cleaner and is better for the environment as the new rounds are more efficient, reducing the amount of time that the collection vehicles are on the road.

Merton Council’s Cabinet Member for the Environment, Councillor Mike Brunt said: “This Recycle Week marks the end of the old collection system – no more split black bin bags littering our streets.  Instead residents can start using their new wheelie bins for the new recycling and rubbish collection service.  The new service will save us all money and increase opportunities to recycle so that together we can increase Merton’s recycling rate from the current level of 37% to 45% in the next 12 months. Our aim is to become “one of the best recycling boroughs in London”.

For more information, visit merton.gov.uk/recycling