SOUTH Gloucestershire Council has announced it is changing the days bins are collected next month.

The revelation that all green and black bins will be emptied on the same day, instead of on alternate weeks, comes just weeks after the authority introduced a controversial charge for green bins to be collected.

The timing of the changes has been questioned by some factions of the council particularly after the Gazette reported how some residents have gone a month without their green bin being collected despite opting in to pay for the service.

The changes will take effect from Monday, June 2 and will see a new fortnightly schedule introduced for all households regardless of whether residents pay for their green to be collected or not.

Black and green bins will be collected in one week and green recycling boxes will be emptied in the other.

Plastics and cardboard will also be collected on alternate weeks, while food waste will continue to be collected weekly.

The council said all waste and recycling should be put out by 7am to ensure collection.

It said the changes are the first revisions to the district’s waste collection dates since 2010 and will help to accommodate the new recycling services - including mixed plastics, Tetrapak cartons and small electrical items - which were introduced on March 31.

But the Conservatives, which have called for the £36 annual ‘green bin tax’ to be scrapped, said the move could cause chaos.

Cllr Ian Adams (Con, Siston and Warmley) said: “This announcement will come as real shock to South Gloucestershire households.

“When so many residents have seen their green bins go uncollected despite paying the council’s controversial bin tax, people will understandably have major concerns over the ability of both the council and its waste contractor SITA to manage such a massive change in the waste collection service.

“There’s a real fear that changing collection dates so suddenly will lead to yet more bin chaos.”

Last week the council admitted it had reverted to using paper maps to detect which households had paid for their green bins to be collected after a £110,000 investment in satellite systems in collection lorries had failed to direct drivers to the correct properties.

There have also been complaints that residents whose bins have not been emptied have been unable to contact the authority’s waste department by phone or via the internet.

Calendar ‘hangers’ with details of the new dates will be placed on black bins between May 12 and 23.

Any residents who have not received a bin hanger by Monday, May 26 is advised to contact the council on streetcare@southglos.gov.uk or call 01454 868 000.

Residents can check their collection schedule online via www.southglos.gov.uk/sortit