Each household will have FOUR wheelie bins when council launches trial in Milton Keynes this month

The council's pilot scheme launches on October 26 in 12 areas of Mk.

Residents have this week received letters of explanation and some were shocked to realise they will have four different wheelie bins to store and put out.

They will keep their standard green bin for food and garden waste, but will also be provided with full-sized blue-lidded wheelie bins for plastic, metals and glass, red bins for paper and card and grey ones for residual waste.

On top of this they will have a smaller yellow container to recycle batteries.

The areas chosen for the trial are certain streets in Bletchley, Brooklands, New Bradwell, Monkston, Monkston Park, Water Eaton, the Lakes Estate, Grange Farm, Chicheley, Astwood, Hardmead and Little Crawley.

One resident in New Bradwell's St Giles Street, where houses are separated by narrow alleyways, has already said the scheme would never work because the roads are too narrow, the gardens too tiny and the access too poor.

"I understand the need for a pilot but it’s clear, even before it has begun, there will be problems for residents in my area," she said.

"Has anyone actually looked at the street? There is poor access and back gardens are small so storage will be an issue. The road is narrow and busy with cars.

"It’s completely laughable that these bins will work for the street unless they are significantly smaller than the massive ones I have seen. How are physically infirm people expected to drag these huge bins around? Where are they supposed to be kept? How will people walk down the street with these bins in the way?

"My neighbour’s wife has health issues which means he can’t leave her - how is he expected to find the time to drag large wheeled bins along a rough gravelled path, down a thin alley and all the way to the from of his house, then back after collection? There are so many practical issues that haven’t been considered here."

A 'legal notice' delivered to all homes on trial areas means people have no choice but to comply with the pilot scheme, said the resident.

She believes people will be forced to leave their numerous bins permanently outside in the street, causing an eyesore and obstructions.

"The council's proposal, for my street anyway, is completely unworkable," she said.

The pilot scheme is set to run for four months, until the end of February 2021. During this time food and residual waste bins will be collected weekly and recycling bins fortnightly.

A council spokesman said for those households that can’t accommodate bins, boxes will be provided instead

He said the aim of the pilot was for residents to try out the wheeled bins and identify any issues.

"It will also enable us to thoroughly test our equipment and procedures to develop options for new waste and recycling collection methods before the contract renewal in 2023," he added.

Some 84 per cent of councils in England supply their residents with wheeled bins. Advantages include higher levels of recycling, lower rates of injuries for residents and staff moving sacks, and less street litter from sack spillage.

Around 20 per cent of the recycling waste currently received in MK is contaminated and the council is keen to discover whether this can be improved with wheelie bins.

The spokesman said: "Monitoring will be in place to see if using wheeled bins leads to cleaner streets. Current arrangements mean that sacks left on the street can burst, or be ripped open by animals. The use of wheeled bins in the pilot may also lead to increased recycling and less fly tipping

He added: "We want to make sure Milton Keynes residents are completely happy with the process and results of the pilot, so we are starting off with an area that we can monitor, control and evaluate thoroughly.

MK is one the top recyclers in the UK and was one of the first places in the country to introduce separate kerbside recycling collection in the 1990s.

In 1990 MK Council trialed red boxes for paper and blue boxes for glass, cans and plastic bottles. The scheme did so well that MK then became the first to build its own in-borough recycling plant.

The current system includes black rubbish sacks for regular waste that can’t be recycled, clear sacks for recycling, a blue box for glass and a green bin for food and garden waste. Variations are in place for flats, communal and special kerbside properties.

A series of public information sessions were initially planned for the wheelie bin pilot scheme but due to Covid-19, these were not possible. Instead, the council will use a short video to explain how people should use their new bins or boxes