Garden rubbish and food waste from households in Falkirk will be collected together in the same bin, as soon as a new facility has been built to sort through it.
The change will mean that people’s brown bins – which are currently just for garden waste – will be collected every fortnight throughout the year.
The proposal by the SNP administration was agreed by members of Falkirk Council when it met on Wednesday to agree its capital budget.
But it won’t happen straight away.
The meeting heard that it will be necessary to build a new facility at its Bo’ness recycling centre, Kinneil Kerse, at a cost of about £300,000.
However, councillors were told that the new system will save an estimated £400,000 every year once it is up and running.
The council hopes that the new arrangements will encourage more households to use the food waste collections.
The SNP’s environment spokesperson, Councillor Paul Garner, said: “Collections of this type are quite common throughout Scotland.
“In order to achieve this efficiency, the council requires a purpose-built food waste transfer facility at a cost of £300,000.”
He added that the change would benefit the council as it is estimated that around one-third of waste in “green bins” is actually food waste.
The new arrangements would take this out of landfill, which is becoming increasingly expensive for Falkirk Council to deal with.
Reducing landfill would help the council’s net zero ambitions as will the fact that it will reduce the number of vehicles needed by six.
It will also reduce the need for the manufacture of grey food caddies, said Councillor Garner.
