PLANS to bring in “slim bins” throughout Bolton will be launched in less than a year.

On Monday the council is set to rubber stamp plans to swap more than 113,000 of resident’s 240 litre grey waste bins for smaller, 140 litre bins in a bid to improve recycling rates across the borough.

There will be no other changes to collection rounds or days for residents.

The authority believes the move — which will cost £2 million to carry out — will lead to savings of £1.25 million each year, or £5 million over the next four years.

Officers will now spend the next year visiting every household in Bolton offering help and advice ahead of the start of the roll out on June 20 next year.

The slim bins will be introduced on a phased ward by ward basis, with all 113,500 properties receiving their new bin by November 7 2016.

The defunct larger grey bins will all be recycled and the council said that as they are at the end of their 25 year lifespan, they would need replacing anyway.

Bolton Council’s cabinet member for the environment, Cllr Nick Peel said he believes the changes will have less impact than other options on the table.

He said: “The council must save money on our waste disposal costs and also make savings across the council of £43m, so we had to make a difficult decision about how to make these savings.

“We considered moving to three weekly waste collections, but felt that moving to a slim grey bin was the best way to make these savings with less impact on residents.

“We want to target the 20 per cent of households which are not recycling at all — because at the moment they are letting everyone else down.”

In a year-long awareness campaign, the council will focus on increasing specifically the amount of food waste being recycled — which currently stands at 35 per cent.

The council will trial a ‘no food waste’ sticker campaign in targeted areas to remind residents to recycle food waste, as well as ensuring that all residents have information on how to get food caddies and liners.

A competition with schools will also be carried out, to encourage children to take part in food recycling at home, with the incentive of a prize for their school.

Finally, the council will be tackling the issue of recycling bins containing incorrect items, through a dedicated recycling officer, who will be visiting properties whose bins have been stickered by bin crews.

The officer will be communicating with residents who put the wrong items in the wrong bin and explaining what they should be doing differently.

Cllr Peel stressed that there will be extra support for families who need it — as long as they show that they are recycling as much as possible.

He said: “We understand that some households and some families may already be recycling everything and may be worrying about how they will cope, so we want to offer all the support and help we can, but it is dependent on them recycling."

“We also understand that some residents need extra help to understand what can and cannot go in the various bins and we are going to provide that additional help."

Large families with six or more people, families with three or more children in nappies and households with one or more people producing medical waste may also be eligible for a larger bin.

Bolton's Conservative leader, David Greenhalgh said he welcomes any bid to promote recycling but feels a weekly grey bin collection is needed.

He said: "We put forward our policy several years ago which called for the introduction of slim bins but with importantly we felt they should be collected on a weekly basis.

"Landfill costs are unbelievable and we support anything to promote recycling, but I think a weekly residual waste collection is what people expect for their council tax."

The council also wants to encourage any residents who feel they need help with waste and recycling to apply for a waste audit.

For more information calling 01204 336632 or bolton.gov.uk/loverecycling.