A new recycling bin will be rolled out to Perth and Kinross households later this year.
Over 71,000 households will be issued with a new grey-lidded bin for metals, plastics and cartons with kerbside collections scheduled to start in November.
But concern has been raised an overlap with the roll-out of the Deposit Return Scheme could cause confusion.
An update on Perth and Kinross Council's Waste Management Plan was presented to PKC's Environment, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, March 29.
Funding from the Scottish Government's Recycling Improvement Fund is being used to roll out a fourth bin to over 71,000 Perth and Kinross homes - 97 per cent of local households.
Currently residents' can place six recycling materials in their blue-lidded bins: paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic containers, cans/tins and cartons (including Tetrapak and Purepak). The accepted six does not include plastic bags or crisp packets.
Items collected from the current blue-lidded bin will now be separated into a twin-stream service. The blue-lidded bin will be for paper and cardboard while residents will be asked to put the other items in their grey-lidded bin.
PKC's Waste Services manager Sheila Best told the committee: "This project is currently being planned and the rollout of bins will commence in late summer/early autumn this year and collections starting in November.
"This will mean householders will be required to separate the current blue bin recycling into two streams - a fibrous mix which is paper and cardboard, and the remaining metals, plastics and cartons will be placed in the new grey-lidded bin."
The council is still in the process of procuring contracts for both of these recycling streams and finalising which particular materials will be uplifted.
Ms Best said the team was "hopeful that additional materials will be able to disposed of via the grey-lidded bins". More details will be released to the general public once the council has finalised what the accepted recycling materials will be.
Bailie Alasdair Bailey - Labour Carse of Gowrie elected member - asked if residents had been consulted on the "notion of having to manage a fourth bin".
Sheila Best said "due diligence" had been done" to determine if this was a good model in terms of moving the recycling service forward but conceded the public had not been consulted.
She added: "In terms of consultation, no we haven't consulted the public around that. We have obviously based moving forward on this service on a number of factors looking at whether that will improve quality, whether that would improve our recycling rate, does it give people more provision in terms of materials they can recycle, what is the carbon impact of moving to that. All factors were assessed as part of our funding bid to move to twin-stream."
Bailie Bailey also raised concern about the service being introduced alongside the Deposit Return Scheme and ensuing confusion with a crossover in materials being recycled.
Councillors were told by Ms Best the Deposit Return Scheme would "remove a large number of items coming in from the kerbside collection".
The Scottish Government's Deposit Return Scheme is due to launch on August 16. Ms Best said she had been told there would be public messaging on that six or seven weeks prior to the launch - the same time as PKC would be informing residents of its new service.
She said: "What we are looking to do is ensure it's one communications message to all residents that will be really clear about what will be going in their kerbside containers and what will also be captured by the Deposit Return Scheme."
Residents can expect to be given more information on the exact details around June/July. Councillors were told the messages would be "really clear" about what is going in the kerbside containers when it starts in November with the Deposit Return Scheme starting a few months prior in August.
Independent councillor Colin Stewart warned "people probably aren't aware this is coming".
The Strathmore councillor said: "My concern is: a) we don't know what the impact of the Deposit Return Scheme will be and b) we haven't consulted with the public about this.
"People won't be aware that they've got to make room for a fourth bin in their gardens - that's for the areas that have three bins.
"Are we in danger of being seen to be doing this to people rather than taking them with us?"
Ms Best assured the committee there would be "detailed communication" with the public about moving to that service with time-scales and how it will impact them.
She said: "I take on board your comments around consultation but we feel the benefits are quite significant - including the potential for financial savings for this local authority which in the current climate is important as well as the environmental benefits of moving to this system."
