HOW and when rubbish, recycling and waste collections are happening across the borough will soon be having a major shake-up.

The collections across Basingstoke and Deane, and a small part of Hart, aim to make bin collection routes more efficient and environmentally friendly.

Working with Serco, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council (BDBC) and Hart District Council are changing waste, recycling and garden waste collections to reduce the distances bin trucks are travelling, revise the routes to incorporate new homes in the area and simplify collections for some residents so their glass and recycling is collected on the same day.

The changes will be introduced from Monday, 22 July and will mean that over half of Basingstoke and Deane's homes, with a small percentage in Hart, will see a change to the day or week their waste and recycling is collected.

Nearly all of the garden waste customers across the borough will be affected. Those residents remaining on the same collection day may have a change to their collection time, therefore bins need to be put out by 7am.

The waste bins will continue to be collected weekly and recycling and glass collections will remain a fortnightly service. Those people signed up to the garden waste service will continue to have their bins and bags collected every two weeks.

The council will send a leaflet to all Basingstoke and Deane residents in early July to advise of any changes to their existing waste and recycling service. Garden waste customers will receive a separate leaflet.

Serco was awarded the contract to collect the borough's waste and recycling in an eight-year contract that was awarded last year, with the option of extending it for a further eight years. The company took over from previous contractor Veolia.

The borough council’s cabinet member for environment and enforcement, Cllr Hayley Eachus, said: “Working with our contractor Serco we have been looking at how we can improve the efficiency of the bin collection routes, simplify collections for some of our residents and ensure we are prepared for new homes in the borough.

“By revising the routes our bin trucks currently take and changing the days or weeks some residents receive their collections, we can achieve all of these benefits while also retaining a weekly waste and fortnightly recycling collection.”

Cllr Eachus added: “I appreciate these changes may be confusing at first as we are all in the habit of putting our bins out on a certain day, but we will do everything we can to minimise the impact of these changes and keep residents informed.”

Cllr Alan Oliver, cabinet member for environment at Hart District Council, said: “These changes will affect less residents in Hart due to the review and extensive changes that took place in 2013. It is important to assess and continually improve our service to residents, and these new routes will bring a range of benefits. My thanks to all officers and Serco for their hard work during this complex piece of work.”

Serco’s transformation director, Duncan Hadland, said: “These changes will also ensure that the workload is more equally spread across all of the crews, who have been fully involved in the process. Their local knowledge has been invaluable with the fine-tuning of the rounds and I would like to thank them for all of their help and support.”

For more information about bin changes, visit www.basingstoke.gov.uk/bin-changes after Monday, 1 July.