Free Council wheelie bins will be delivered to more than 15,000 homes in the Southall area from early November.

Letters setting out wide-ranging improvements to refuse and recycling services have started to drop through 95,000 Ealing residents’ doors. The Council is writing to all homes eligible for household (green box) recycling services by 1 November.

The £3.8 million revamp of services in Ealing will include:

• Same day collections for all refuse and recycling
• Same day pick-up for missed refuse collections reported to the Council by 5pm
• Introduction of plastic (with the exception of garden furniture and toys) recycling through the weekly household collection services.
• A new weekly garden waste collection service
• All roads to be cleaned by the end of the next working day following refuse and recycling collections.
• Free Council wheelie bins will be delivered to more than 15,000 homes in the Southall area
• An appointment based special bulky waste collection service (to take away up to eight bulky items for £20) will be introduced that promises to be twice as fast as the current service.

Although recycling rates in the borough have improved over the past year (from 19 to 25% - the highest ever recorded in the borough) the Council is hoping that further investment will boost rates even further.

From 19 November local people will be able to recycle plastic (with the exception of garden furniture and toys) through the weekly household collection services. Residents are being asked to keep plastic separate from all other recycling as it will be picked up by a different vehicle.

A new weekly garden waste collection service will also begin on 19 November. Collections will be on the same day as refuse and recycling collections, replacing the current fortnightly service. Re-usable garden sacks will replace disposable pink sacks which will be phased out by Spring 2008. Three new re-usable sacks will be delivered to homes eligible for household recycling from 19 November to early in the New Year.

Residents in more than 1,000 homes (flats and red routes) will be offered a mixed recycling service. Large blocks of flats will be provided with communal bins to boost recycling.

In a bid to cut down on rubbish left out too early, special signs will be put up in residential roads, setting out each road’s collection day and times from March 2008. In addition, communal bins will be placed a various locations close to flats above shops to help these residents dispose of rubbish responsibly.

Council Leader Jason Stacey said: “All of these changes being introduced on 19 November are designed to improve our waste collection services. We know from the huge response to last year’s consultation that refuse and recycling services are very important to residents.

“For most residents the new single collection day will be their existing refuse collection day.

“I am particularly pleased that plastic recycling will be introduced as I know many people have wanted this service for a long time. We hope that it will make an important contribution to further improve the borough’s recycling rate.

“And in Southall, wheelie bins will be introduced to those roads where there was majority support for them and it was practical operationally. We believe that by taking rubbish off the streets these bins will really help to tackle the problem of rats in the area, especially around the town centre.”