Kingston to collect bins fortnightly

Residents of a London borough are to have rubbish collections cut to a single wheelie bin per home once every two weeks.

Kingston is making the change in a bid to increase recycling. It will become the second borough in the capital, after Harrow, to impose fortnightly collections.

The new regime will begin in September. Recyclable materials and food waste will still be picked up on a weekly basis.

"We will be collecting waste that will go to landfill once a fortnight," said a council spokesman. "We think this is the best way to meet our recycling targets and there is also a moral need for this. We have been trialling the scheme and we believe a single bin emptied every two weeks is more than adequate."

Kingston, run by the Liberal Democrats, currently recycles only 24 per cent of its waste, placing it 299th out of England's 393 councils. It is hoped the new scheme will double recycling rates to about 48 per cent, making the borough among the greenest in the country. Drinks cartons, aerosols, telephone directories and batteries have been added to the list of recyclable goods, along with food waste, cardboard and several kinds of plastic.