All your rubbish will be collected weekly in Medway from next week – thanks to a £14m government grant.

Councils nationwide bombarded the three-year scheme with twice as many applications as there were funds.

But Medway Council’s bid was a success, despite the original request of £17m being one of the biggest in the country.

From Monday, October 28, all recycling, food and garden waste will be collected weekly instead of fortnightly.

Residents’ collection days will not change but they will no longer have to remember if it is a 'blue and white week' for card, paper, glass and plastic, or a 'brown week' for garden and food waste.

Black bags for non-recyclable rubbish will continue to be collected weekly.

As part of the scheme the council is launching a crackdown on people not sorting their waste, which it is claimed costs £340,000 a year.

The biggest problem is people not separating paper and card, which should go in blue caddies, from other recyclable material, which goes in white caddies and clear sacks.

Chiefs originally planned to leave repeat offenders’ rubbish in the streets, but that plan was ditched in a swift U-turn by cabinet members.

Instead the council said binmen will collect the bags but explain the rules to individual residents.

Residents are also being encouraged to recycle more uneaten food.

All residents are being delivered a small kitchen caddy for their food waste together with biodegradable bin bags. These are designed to be filled up on the kitchen worktop and then the waste should be put in a large outdoor brown bin.

The brown bin can also hold thicker brown sacks, available free from the council, for garden waste such as dead plants, grass and hedge clippings.

Some homes which cannot find room for a large brown bin will be given smaller one.

To find out more visit medway.gov.uk/recycleweekly

Do you welcome the new recycling scheme? Will you be using your kitchen caddy for food waste?

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