Every household in Milton Keynes WILL have four wheelie bins by next year, council announces

The council is starting a new contract to pick up waste and recycling from MK’s 119,000 homes in the summer of 2023 and is set to spend millions to provide each household in city with four different bins.

Black bags will be scrapped and there will be a green-lidded bin for food and garden waste, a blue-lidded one for plastic, metals and glass, a red-lidded one for paper and card, and a bin with a grey lid for residual waste.

This means more than 300,000 bins and accompanying waste vehicles will need to be manufactured and delivered to Milton Keynes in a massive logistical operation.

But purchasing the massive quantity of new bins required has so far posed a challenge as there are currently widespread manufacturing issues caused by the conflict in Ukraine.

As a result, the estimated cost has risen to almost £3 per bin. Nevertheless this month the council is currently gathering tenders from companies to supply the huge order.

The switch from plastic sacks to wheeled bins should lead to less street litter, higher recycling rates, and will be better for the environment, says the council.

They want to make the changes as smooth as possible for local people, and yesterday a formal decision was made to include a handover period between the contracts, allowing any new contractor to seamlessly take on their responsibilities.

A decision on which contractor will work with the council on the new contract will be announced in November.

Although much is changing, weekly recycling and non-recyclable waste collections will continue in Milton Keynes and residents will receive two recycling bins for collection on alternate weeks.

The council is making separate plans for households where wheeled bins would be too difficult to use.

Cabinet member for the Public Realm, Cllr Lauren Townsend, said: “There’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make sure this massive operational programme stays on track. The pandemic and many other global issues have put significant pressures on manufacturing and the supply chain, so we were right to start our planning so early.