RESIDENTS are set to see a change in who is picking up their bins.

From Monday, Serco takes on the £44m, eight-year recycling and waste contract for Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council and Hart District Council.

A key aspect of the partnership is to boost recycling rates in the borough which, according to a Community, Environment and Partnerships Committee meeting report due to be discussed on Wednesday night, stood at 28.54 per cent last year.

This is just over half of the national target of 50 per cent by 2020.

The borough says this rate could be improved by 10 per cent if residents were recycling correctly, with education a priority.

Cabinet member for regulatory services and the environment Councillor Hayley Eachus said: “We are working with all Hampshire authorities as part of the county wide Project Integra (PI) partnership on initiatives which will increase the amount of household waste recycled.

“Although there is a partnership drive to increase the amount of materials that can be recycled at the kerbside, we cannot overlook the fact that many of the materials we can already recycle are still being placed in the grey bins.

“It is estimated if all of the current range of materials that can be recycled were collected at the kerbside then this would result in a 10 per cent increase in the council’s recycling rate.

“We will continue our work to educate our residents on what they can and can’t recycle to support this.

“The government’s target of 50 per cent is a national target and includes material recycled through the household waste recycling centres which are the responsibility of Hampshire County Council.

“The recycling rate for the county of Hampshire in 2016/17 was 41.58 per cent and we will continue our work to contribute to moving this target towards an overall 50 per cent target.”

The new contract includes the introduction of garden waste wheeled bins, instead of bins, to help residents recycle more, and more regular collections and cleaning of bring banks sites.

Residents will also see a fleet of new vehicles collecting their waste and recycling.

The contract with previous waste and recycling collector Veolia ended in somewhat acrimonious circumstances with widespread waste and recycling collection problems over a large part of the summer.