Town to wait longer for food waste collections
BBCPeople living in a town will have their food waste collected months later than expected.
Government policy states collections from all homes should begin from April, but Middlesbrough Council confirmed its residents would have to wait until July for food collections to start.
The Labour-led council said people would start receiving new bins and waste caddies in the spring, when collections in neighbouring Stockton, Hartlepool and Darlington will start.
A spokesman for Middlesbrough Council said: "We are currently working through the logistics of launching food waste collections in Middlesbrough which includes procuring a full fleet of collection vehicles."
Each property is set to receive a small caddy for inside the house and a larger one for outside storage, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
Households in Middlesbrough are also set to receive another wheelie bin, which would be red-lidded, exclusively for paper and card.
Once issued, existing recycling wheelie bins would be for all other recyclables.
In a report, executive member for environment and sustainability, Councillor Peter Gavigan said there would be a "busy delivery operation" of new bins starting in March.
"As we get closer to going live with collections, residents will be able to see their new collections on the resident calendar on our website."
In other North East council areas, such as South Tyneside, Sunderland and Gateshead, residents will have to wait for food waste collections until 2039, due to long-term contract obligations.
