Rutland County Council has chosen a supplier for its new smaller black bins – ahead of the rollout of food waste collections later this year.

The local authority ruled last summer that general waste collections would continue on a fortnightly basis with smaller 140-litre bins – after an outcry over proposals to shift to one collection every three weeks.

The smaller black bin collections are expected to reduce waste processing costs by just over £250,000 per year, according to the council. 

The new food waste collection service is slated to start in March – at the same time as the new black bins are introduced. 

Mixed recycling collections will remain as they are. The authority has allocated about £530,000 towards new transport lorries and £204,000 for new food caddy bins and waste side containers – helped by funding from central government.

Following a procurement process, the contract to supply the new bins was awarded to Merseyside waste firm Contenur. The final decision was approved earlier this month by the council's strategic director for places Penny Sharp.

The 140-litre bins are around 40 per cent smaller than the current black bins.

Cabinet member for environment Christine Wise (Lib Dem) said last year she was 'excited' to introduce the new scheme.

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She said: "For those who want to know why we can't just carry on as we are with an extra food waste collection – we can't afford to. There is strong evidence that there needs to be a reduction in residual capacity to drive behaviour change."