HOUSEHOLDERS in Huntingdonshire will find out this week what changes to expect to their refuse and recycling collections. The district council will be sending letters to all residents advising them of their revised collection day. The sides of 10 refuse

HOUSEHOLDERS in Huntingdonshire will find out this week what changes to expect to their refuse and recycling collections.

The district council will be sending letters to all residents advising them of their revised collection day.

The sides of 10 refuse lorries have been fitted with panels bearing the message that collection days will change in September.

HDC is also working on its website to generate information about collection days when residents input their addresses. It should be in place before the new arrangements start.

Virtually every one of the 67,000 households in the district will be affected by the changes, which come into effect on September 10 and will save Council Tax payers £100,000 a year.

The move will affect 60,000 properties in the district and will make the service more effective because fewer vehicles will be needed, which produces the saving.

The change has been made to coincide with the opening at the end of this month of a £6million depot - one of the council's £23million headquarters replacement projects - at Latham Road, Huntingdon, off the A141.

Councillor Colin Hyams, executive councillor for operations, said: "We are working hard to ensure that people have plenty of information and reminders about the forthcoming changes, so that the transition can be made smoothly, and people put the right bin out on the right day."

The current principle of grey and green bins being collected on the same day of alternate weeks will continue - and food waste can be put into either bin so, therefore, it can be collected weekly.

Recycling bins and boxes will also continue to be collected on alternate weeks as at present, although the day of the week may change.

Huntingdonshire residents have one of the best recycling records in the country.

Currently, because of their efforts, the council is ranked fifth highest in England on the basis of last year's record of less than 50 per cent of discarded material recycled.

The district has been achieving 53 per cent over the past few months.

Until recently, neighbouring South Cambridgeshire, which includes Papworth, Caxton and Cambourne, was ahead of Hunts but is now thought to have been overtaken.