Axbridge will be first to go fortnightly

FORTNIGHTLY rubbish and weekly food collection trials will be launched in Sedgemoor next month and Axbridge is one of the first towns involved in the new scheme.

About 10,000 homes throughout Somerset, including four areas in Sedgemoor, will be tested with the new wider-ranging collections of materials for recycling and composting.

The trials, which start in May, are being launched by the Somerset Waste Partnership and will include collections of food waste, plastic bottles and cardboard after the success of SORT IT collections in other areas of the county.

Sedgemoor District Council's portfolio holder for environmental health and clean surroundings, councillor Stuart Kingham, said: "We are very pleased to be involved in these trials, which we expect will allow a recycling rate of at least 50 per cent, twice the amount currently achieved in Sedgemoor and reduce the amount sent to landfill."

Notification packs will be sent to the 800 households involved in Axbridge as well as homes in Lympsham, East Brent and Burnham. The packs will include details of the collections as well dates of roadshows to educate residents about the new scheme.

Bins and boxes for the new collections will be delivered in early May and the trials will start on the week commencing May 19.

The SORT IT trials will involve:

* Weekly collections of food waste, with an internal caddy and external bin with lockable handle.

* Continued recycling collections with a box provided for paper, glass, cans, foil, textiles and car batteries.

* An additional recycling box for plastic bottles and cardboard

* Fortnightly collections of refuse while wheeled bins provided

* Optional charged composting collections for green waste.

Roadshow dates

* April 5. 8.30am-1pm. Axbridge Farmers' Market, The Square.

* April 8. 10am-2pm. Burnham Community Centre, 5 Berrow Road.

* April 9. 2-6pm. East Brent Village Hall, Jarvis Lane.