Bracknell Forest Council bins to be collected every three weeks

A petition is calling for a consultation over the changes to bin collections by the council (stock image)

A council is set to change its fortnightly general waste collections to every three weeks.

It comes as Bracknell Forest Council introduces a weekly food waste collection.

But more than 2,000 people have signed a petition calling for a public consultation on the general waste changes, which were approved last week.

The council said the changes would save 4,000 tonnes of rubbish from landfill and cut carbon emissions.

Speaking to BBC Radio Berkshire, Linsie Keen, from Bracknell, said: "It just really annoyed me that the council have yet again made another massive decision that is going to affect everyone in our borough without any type of consultation.

"People are saying they do not want a three-week collection because they can not hold the waste any longer.

"And you are talking about people that can't get to the local refuse tip. How are they going to cope with the extra waste?

"Trying to manage waste for three weeks is going to be a nightmare."

The council said the change would help save money and tackle climate change

The changes to the general waste bins would apply only to houses and not flats.

The council said this money saved could be put into other essential services as well as helping to tackle climate change.

Council leader Paul Bettison said: "The only material they would have to keep for three weeks is anything other than food or other recycling."

Residents are set to get a five litre indoor food waste caddy before the first collection on 5 October, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).