Will Suffolk be ready for all the new bins?

Bins to allow for a weekly food waste collection service have been arriving on doorsteps and driveways across Suffolk.

But the revised collection regime is not due to start until 1 June, nine weeks after it is supposed to begin.

Suffolk's local authorities are among almost a quarter of councils across England that will miss the government deadline of 31 March.

The Suffolk Waste Partnership, comprising all five district and borough councils plus the county council, said despite the nine-week delay, it was confident the government would have "no concerns" about its approach.

The government has implemented a Simpler Recycling initiative to standardise what can be recycled across the country.

For Suffolk, it means a new weekly food waste collection service and an additional bin to separate card and papers from other recycled waste.

The new service will also mean that, for the first time, glass bottles and jars, cartons such as Tetra Pak, plastic bags, wrappings and films will be collected and recycled.

In all council areas, the food waste collection will be weekly, but the frequency of other collections may differ.

In Kesgrave, near Ipswich, waste collection is managed by East Suffolk Council. Delivery of the new bins has started in the last two weeks.

Resident Jon Neal, who had just received his, told the BBC: "I will have to find a bit of space for a few more bins, but that is a small price to pay to be able to recycle loads more stuff, which is really good news.

"I had been putting my food waste on our compost bin, and then we ended up getting a rat.

"It will be nice to get rid of food waste in a way that is going to be much safer and better for the environment as well."

East Suffolk Council will also be providing households with a new wheelie bin or container, so paper and card can be separated from plastics, metal, cartons and glass bottles.

The new bins are black with a green lid and the council plans to move to a three-weekly collection rather than its current fortnightly arrangement.

Simon Burton, also of Kesgrave, said he did not have space for his new bin.

"I think a lot of people will possibly struggle to keep the extra bin with the space they've got round here," he said.

"My new one's had to go in the garden now. It won't fit out the back because then it gets in the way of other people's cars where their garages are."

A fellow Kesgrave resident, who did not want to be named, also spoke to the BBC on the day their new bins arrived.

They said they were just going through the instructions to figure out the collection timetable and joked: "I'm going to need a degree for it, really.

"You will have to set a reminder or create a little chart. I just hope the neighbours get it right because I check what they have put out. "

In Ipswich, the new bins have yet to arrive. Residents will also be getting the additional food waste bin and an extra container for card and paper recycling.

Collections for food waste will be weekly and for all other waste or recycling, it will remain fortnightly on an alternate-week basis.

Resident Helen Newton said: "At the moment we've got three bins but I think there's another food bin coming soon."

She said knowing which material should go in which bin could also be confusing. "Sometimes you get these wrapping papers.... [with] the shiny things on. You think, 'Oh, we can't put that in the recycling – that goes in the other one."

In West Suffolk, the rollout of the new bins began on Monday.

Residents will first get a larger wheelie bin for recycling card and paper. Then, from 9 March, a food waste caddy will arrive.

Frances Graham, who lives in Bury St Edmunds, said she hoped it would be clearer what could go in each bin.

"Sometimes they say 'You can put this in' and then, all of a sudden, you'll get a letter through the post, 'No, you can't put that in.' As long as I'm told what to do, I don't care."

West Suffolk Council will collect food waste weekly and other collections will be fortnightly.

Mid Suffolk and Babergh councils will also be providing new bins from 1 June.

The councils will provide a weekly food waste collection service and accept wider items for recycling, such as glass and cartons.

They will also move to a three-weekly collection service.

The Suffolk Waste Partnership said: "The delivery of new bins across Suffolk is under way and will be completed ahead of the service launch on 1 June.

"Due to the scale of the change, the nationwide pressures on provision of new vehicles and bins, our collective focus has been on ensuring that the rollout begins as smoothly as possible to ensure residents receive the best possible service.

"Given this is only a short delay of around nine weeks and, considering the issues that some local authorities are facing to even deliver these new services this year, we were confident that the government would have no concerns about this sensible and pragmatic approach."

A Defra spokesperson said: "From March, every household in England will receive weekly food waste collections and will have the same materials collected for recycling.

"This will end the postcode lottery of bin collection and help keep our streets cleaner, while empowering local authorities to continue to deliver services in the way that works best for their communities."

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