Fife in monthly bin collection trial

Fife Council has confirmed it will become the first local authority in the UK to trial once a month bin collections.

The pilot scheme will see 2,000 houses have waste collected every four weeks, with another 2,000 having general rubbish picked up every three weeks.

The council has said the year-long trial will begin in September in locations which have yet to be decided.

A review of the findings will go to the council's executive committee.

'Fills up fast'

Chris Ewing, of Fife Council's resource efficient solutions, said: "What we're going to do is give a couple of options a try in 4,000 homes.

"Just to make it clear - no decision has been taken yet to change everyone's bin collections, we're just piloting this in some homes to get more information.

"The trial won't start until September and we've yet to decide where in Fife but we've decided to find out more because it could improve recycling figures and save the council money.

"In the sample homes, we're increasing how often we collect plastics because when we asked, our customers told us that bin fills up fast.

"We'll also be trying to find out if houses that are provided with increased collections for cans and plastics are able to accommodate fewer collection of landfill waste.

"For houses that receive a four weekly collection of landfill waste individual arrangements will be made for the collection of nappies and other similar products."