The formal approval means black bins will be collected fortnightly rather than weekly, reports Josh Mellor, Local Democracy Reporter

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Plans to cut black bin collections to fortnightly have been formally approved by Waltham Forest Council.

The council hopes that reducing collections of general waste from weekly to fortnightly will encourage residents to recycle more of their waste.

Estimates suggest that residents in Waltham Forest only recycle about one-third of their household waste.

This is significantly lower than other London boroughs such as Bexley and Ealing, which recycle about 50%.

Council deputy leader Clyde Loakes, who oversees the council’s waste services, says up to 85% of household waste could be recycled.

Other changes to the council’s new recycling strategy, which was approved by cabinet yesterday, include separating food waste bins from garden waste for the first time.

Weekly recycling collections will continue.

Although cabinet approved the plan in a public meeting at the town hall yesterday, a technical issue with the webcast means comments made by council leaders are not currently known.

At a scrutiny meeting to discuss the changes last month, Cllr Loakes said: “We’re saying to people if you’re serious about recycling, about the climate, about making a difference then actually use green bins as normal bins – the normal bin is not your black bin.

He added that similar waste collection changes had been “rolled out successfully” by other local authorities.

About half of London’s councils now collect black bin waste fortnightly.

The council says that 55% of residents are in favour of the scheme, based on a consultation of 2,700 people last autumn.

The consultation included a lengthy question setting out the pros and cons of four options for waste collections and then stated the council’s preferred option.

When asked to what extent they agreed that the council was “doing the right sorts of things” about recycling, 55% of residents responded positively.

The changes will see the council’s waste collection contractor Urbaser charge the council £937,000 more per year.

In addition, the council will purchase a fleet of new collection vehicles at a cost of £1.4million and £1.6m to implement the separate food waste service.

More information on the new recycling strategy is available on the council’s website

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