Stroud District Council is to decide on an improved recycling scheme for the area.

In a meeting to be held on Thursday, November 6, councillors will vote on proposals to further improve recycling arrangements for the 51,000 households in the district.

The council will decide on recommendations from its environment committee, which put forward the introduction of a weekly food waste collection service and an optional, paid-for garden waste collection scheme.

Chair of the Environment Committee Cllr Simon Pickering said: “We undertook detailed research to understand what our residents really want and it showed that the vast majority of people in the district are keen to recycle more.

“Armed with this information we have been able to put together proposals for an improved service which will achieve this. In 2016 our existing waste and recycling contract comes to an end and this gives us the opportunity to make major changes to the services we provide.

“Against a backdrop of financial cuts we’ve come up with a solution which provides an improved and cost- effective service.”

The introduction of the weekly food waste collections would also mean that the remaining waste could be collected fortnightly.

Smells from fortnightly collections should not be a problem, because the food waste will be collected each week.

Instances of wildlife scattering rubbish by ripping into rubbish bags will also be reduced as bags will be replaced by wheelie-bins – though bags would still be provided for properties with restricted access or which do not have space for a bin.

Cllr Pickering continued: “The new system will allow people to recycle more and reduce the amount of waste going to landfill.

The changes we introduced three years ago have already led to an increase in recycling and these suggested improvements will make an even more substantial improvement.”

If the proposals are approved the new system of collections and the optional garden waste scheme will come into place in 2016.