Leeds City Council has revealed that it will be expanding its new waste service to around 100,000 properties in west, north west and north east Leeds in November.

The service, first introduced to parts of the city in April, incorporates an increase in frequency of waste collections, with residual waste bins collected one week, and recycling bins collected the next (known as alternate weekly collections (AWC)).

The council has now announced that from November 2013, homes in Adel and Wharfedale, Alwoodley, Bramley and Stanningley, Calverley and Farsley, Guiseley and Rawdon, Harewood, Horsforth, Middleton Park, Otley and Yeadon, Pudsey and Wetherby will see their residual waste bins collected one week, with their co-mingled green recycling bins collected the next.

Additionally some parts of Armley, Kirkstall and Weetwood, along with a ‘very limited number’ of properties in Farnley, Wortley, Ardsley and Robin Hood will be included in the next phase.

The expansion comes as part of the council’s longer-term view of rolling out the service ‘to the majority of the city’, and its ‘commitment to increase recycling’.

It is hoped that by 2015, the service will be rolled out to 80 per cent of homes in Leeds, saving the council around £2.5 million a year and helping it reach its self-imposed target of recycling 55 per cent of waste by 2016.

Recycling more will have ‘environmental benefits’

According to the council, enabling residents to recycle more at home will have environmental, as well as financial, benefits, since ‘valuable’ resources will be turned into new goods and ‘harmful’ carbon emissions from waste will be cut.

Indeed, it says that since the service launched in April, residents ‘have recycled more’ and sent less waste to landfill.

The roll out of increased green bin collections has been driven by demand from Leeds residents, who told the council during a consultation on waste strategy that weekly black bin collections ‘would not be necessary’ if their recycling bin was emptied more often.

Speaking of the new service, Leeds City Council’s Executive Member for the Environment, Mark Dobson said: “Bin collections are one of the most visible council services and changes on this scale means we need to take a considered, staged approach. The evidence from phase one clearly shows that we can up the amount of recycling we collect and send less to landfill by increasing the frequency of green bin collections.

“Our experience of introducing this service to 56,000 homes back in April and the lessons we’ve learned means that we can help everyone through the changes. With residents’ continued support we can maintain and exceed our recycling ambitions.”

As with phase one, residents will receive an information pack, and the ‘Waste Doctors’ – the council’s ‘specialist’ recycling advisers – will be hosting roadshows and attending events to offer residents advice on getting the most out of their green recycling bin.

Alternate weekly collections have proved a popular choice with many local authorities, with a study conducted by the University of Southampton showing that AWC can increase recycling rates by up to nine per cent and reduce collection costs.