A DECISION on food waste collection is being delayed in Poole until 2015, and the council has pledged to keep a weekly kerbside refuse service in the meantime.

However a cross-party working group of members has been considering options and is recommending to the environment overview and scrutiny committee on Thursday that a “bin swap” takes place.

This would mean residents would give up small blue recycling bins of 140 litres for a larger 240 litre bin. And the ageing 20-year-old large black refuse bins would be replaced by smaller 180 litre bins.

A government grant of over £1million aimed at helping councils with a weekly refuse collection means this would be retained and the two-weekly recycling collection would also remain.

“That will enable us to continue for that period with the service exactly as it is now,” said Shaun Robson, head of environmental and consumer protection services, Borough of Poole.

“We have had a very successful blue bin scheme which collects probably the biggest variety of recycling it’s possible to collect currently at the kerbside,” he said.

With most plastic, Tetra Paks and aerosole cans added to newspapers, glass and tins, currently 40.2 per cent of Poole’s waste is recycled, making money for the council.

Cllr Xena Dion, pictured left, cabinet portfolio holder for a prosperous and sustainable Poole, said they acknowledged larger families had worries about smaller bins. “There is a lot of concern about having a smaller black bin and having it emptied every other week,” she said.

“This is a fantastic compromise. It’s bigger than the 140 litre bin, with much more capacity.”

Of waste collected in black bins, 31.3 per cent was food waste, according to council figures and since 1999 more than 14,000 compost bins have been sold to residents at a reduced rate of £6.