MORE than 40,000 households in North and East Dorset are set to see a change to their recycling and rubbish collection this June.

The Dorset Waste Partnership rolled out the ‘recycle for Dorset’ service in Christchurch and parts of East Dorset in October.

During January, residents in areas including Alderholt, Corfe Mullen, Cranborne, Holt, Sturminster Marshall, Wimborne St Giles and Sixpenny Handley will receive a letter and leaflet introducing the new service.

The new containers should be suitable for most households, but if there is a genuine reason why they will not meet a household’s specific needs, or if help is needed moving the containers, the DWP should be contacted no later than February 28.

Households will also need to contact the DWP before the end of February if they don’t currently have a recycling box, as they will need one to collect glass when the new service starts.

For most, the service will consist of: A weekly collection of cooked and uncooked food waste using a 23-litre outdoor bin and a seven-litre kitchen caddy; a fortnightly collection of recycling using a 240-litre wheelie bin and residents’ existing recycling box; a fortnightly collection of rubbish using a 140-litre wheelie bin. Residents can also pay for a new, optional garden waste collection starting in June, at £35 a year.

Cllr Hilary Cox, chair of the Dorset Waste Partnership’s joint committee, said: “The new service, which is already being well used by residents in Christchurch and other parts of East Dorset, is clean, easy-to-use and enables people to recycle more at home.”

The scheme has already seen recycling rates soar in Christchurch and has been described by DWP director Steve Burdis as “the biggest ever change to waste collections in Dorset”.