West Cornwall residents can expect changes to their rubbish and food waste collection schedules later this year. 

Cornwall Council have revealed today (Thursday) that people living in Penzance, Marazion, Sennen, St Buryan, St Just, St Ives, Hayle, Helston and the Lizard and their surrounding areas that its second phase of a new food waste, recycling and rubbish service will commence in July 2024.

People living in these areas will receive new food waste caddies and rubbish bins, or protective sacks in preparation for the change, which has already started in mid Cornwall.

The new service will also see rubbish being collected fortnightly instead of the usual weekly collection, with some residents seeing a change in the day when rubbish and recycling will be collected. The current red, orange and blue bags, as well as the box, will be collected fortnightly.

To keep residents updated on the changes, the council will be sending out a ‘Get Ready’ leaflet which will include all the relevant information regarding the new containers and how to recycle food waste.

The key elements of the new waste service in Cornwall are:

Weekly food waste collections.

Fortnightly rubbish collections in a wheelie bin or protective sack.

Fortnightly recycling collections in the current recycling bags and box.

New collection days for most residents.

Recycling collection week changes for some residents.

Over the next two years, households across Cornwall will be sent:

A silver kitchen caddy to make it easy to separate food waste from rubbish.

A green outdoor collection caddy for storing and putting out your food waste for collection.

A wheelie bin or reusable protective sack to put out rubbish for collection.

Properties with shared bins or communal bin stores will be provided with bins to suit their collection arrangements.

The change in rubbish collection and better ways to reduce food waste is part of an initiative by Cornwall Council to help residents increase their recycling and cut down on waste as well as recycle their food waste for the first time.

In January, Councillor Carol Mould, Cornwall’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods, explained why the initiative would be beneficial to helping the environment. She said: “All this helps to lower our carbon footprint and lessen our impact on the planet contributing to a thriving, sustainable Cornwall.”

Advice and information on the upcoming changes can be found by visiting www.cornwall.gov.uk/wastechanges.