BOLTON’S weekly bin collections look set to be scrapped in favour of fortnightly rounds after Town Hall bosses approved the plans.

Councillors gave the changes the go ahead at a cabinet meeting — despite an 11th hour attempt by the Conservative Group to save weekly collections.

The decision came as the cabinet approved plans to increase council tax by 3.5 per cent and cut a further 50 jobs to save £8.8 million.

In the next two years, Bolton Council must save £43.6 million.

Under the new bin system, which will save £2.6 million a year, people will receive a food waste container, that will be collected weekly.

Grey bins, for household waste, and recycling bins will be collected on alternate weeks.

The council believes the new system will increase recycling and save money.

But the Tories said it is removing the one “universal service” that the council provides to all residents, and presented an alternative plan to the cabinet. It would see £2.2 million from reserves being used to give residents smaller 140 litre capacity bins to replace their 240 litre bins, which could then be sold for an estimated £200,000. The smaller bins would be collected each week but their size would encourage residents to recycle.

Cllr Andy Morgan said: “People are looking at having a 3.5 per cent council tax increase but at the same time we are going to reduce the one service that everybody benefits from.

“We offered an alternative, to keep the weekly collections for people.”

The executive dismissed the Conservative’s plans and passed the proposal.

It will now go before the full council on February 20 and will be rolled out across the borough in April.

A consultation on the plans, carried out between September and November, 2012, revealed 72 per cent of residents thought the change would have little or no impact on their household.

Bolton Council’s executive cabinet member for environment, Cllr Nick Peel, said: “Moving to managed weekly collections will save money, increase the recycling rate and we hope will also have minimal or no impact for the majority of residents in Bolton.”

To order a free recycling container, visit bolton.gov.uk or email wasteandrecycling@bolton.

gov.uk or call 01204 336632