The Berkshire borough, which is replacing its weekly collections of recycling and residual waste, will begin the alternate system from October 2.
 Cllr Steve Waite inspects 20,000 new recycling bins for Reading |
The council is aiming for every Reading home to have one of the red bins, which are being provided by Telford firm Plastic Omnium. Residents are also being given a calendar telling them the days their bin will be collected.
The new red bins will allow the collection of paper/card, plastic and cans, as had been the case for the previous kerbside box scheme.
A new green waste collection, using green bins and bags, will also be rolled out from October, to be collected the same week as recycling.
Steve Waite, lead councillor for the environment, visited Reading's civic amenity site on Thursday to watch the preparations.
“Key”
He said: “This is a huge logistical effort but it is a key component in ensuring a smooth transition to the new scheme. It is also essential that we invest now if we are to save the Council Tax payers from increasing costs in the future.”
Reading decided to introduce alternate weekly collections in June (see letsrecycle.com story).
A spokesman for the council said that alternate weekly collections had already proved a success in other parts of the country.
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He said: “Recycling rates in some places have almost doubled after introducing alternate weekly collections and we hope that our recycling rates will rise, saving us money from landfill tax in the long run.”
He added: “The 800,000 will go towards changes to bins, collection routines and to publicity and marketing costs.”
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