Rutland County Council (RCC) has announced the addition of ten new bin lorries set to be introduced in April 2024, as well as an accompanying online schedule checker.

RCC is welcoming ten brand-new waste vehicles to its refuse fleet in April 2024, following an investment of more than £2m to improve waste and recycling services for residents. 

The investment in new refuse and recycling vehicles will provide Rutland with eight 26-tonne vehicles and two 18-tonne split body refuse vehicles, all fitted with improved in-cab technology. This will support significant improvements to the service, including fewer vehicle breakdowns, a reduction in carbon emission and better working conditions for crews.  

To further improve the reliability of local waste and recycling collections and ensure the service is delivered as efficiently as possible, Rutland County Council, in partnership with contractors Biffa, have completed a round review designed to update bin collection routes. 

This will mean a change to bin collection days for around 4,000 residents across the County, starting in April 2024. To make this as easy as possible for those who are affected, Rutland County Council is writing to every household that will see a change to their usual bin collections. Letters will be delivered from Monday 18 March, confirming new collection days and when the change will take effect. 

The Council has also added a postcode checker to its website, allowing residents to search bin collection days for their address.

There will be no changes to Rutland's green waste collection service. Anyone who has registered for the Council's green waste service will continue to have their green bin collected on the same day, regardless of whether their black and grey bin collection day is changing. Anyone who is registered with the Council for an assisted bin collection will continue to receive this service as normal.

Councillor Christine Wise, Cabinet Member for Transport, Environment and Communities at Rutland County Council, said: "It's clear that our waste and recycling service has needed major investment for some time. The impact of having an aged fleet of collection vehicles is being felt by residents on a weekly basis, with breakdowns becoming more and more frequent, making it incredibly difficult for us to complete rounds as scheduled on a regular basis.

"We've been working hard to address these issues since coming into office last year and we're extremely pleased to have reached the point where we can now replace our entire waste collection fleet, as well as rolling out a more efficient set of bin collection routes from April 2024.

"Earlier this month, we adopted our new Corporate Strategy, listing our priorities for Rutland County Council. One of these priorities is to make sure we're providing good public services for residents. We're confident this latest investment will significantly improve our waste and recycling service but there is still more to do, particularly when it comes to implementing changes to national legislation that may affect how waste and recycling collections are carried out in the next two or three years."

For more information about waste and recycling services in Rutland, including an A-Z guide that explains what items can and can't be placed into grey recycling bins, please visit the RCC website.