Rubbish to be collected three times a week after binmen go hi-tech

Residents in Kensington and Chelsea already have their bins emptied twice a week.

But new technology to be used from January will alter the rota for the borough's refuse collectors so that more than 75,000 residents will have their service improved.

The current system, which involves mapping out the collectors' rounds on a laminated map with crayons, has been almost the same since the Sixties.

The collectors, who work for contractor Sita, called for a new rota because some of them have to do more work than others, depending on where their round is.

Scheduling software was used to devise new routes that will increase collections without generating more work hours.

Streets chosen to receive three collections a week include those where more waste is generated or where there are fewer outdoor storage areas, such as those with shops.

Nicholas Paget-Brown, the council's cabinet member for environmental services, said: "We are proposing to put more than half of our residents on a cycle in which there are two clear days between collections and the remainder on a three-per-week cycle."

The move comes after a public backlash against councils that changed collections from once a week to once a fortnight on a government recommendation.

The switch, adopted by more than 140 councils in England following a report in April for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, was designed to encourage households to recycle more.

But residents have complained it has encouraged rats, flies and maggots as bins are left filled with rotting food and disposable nappies. A referendum in Dartford in Kent showed that 95 per cent of voters opposed the plan. In a government U-turn in July, councils were told to restore weekly collections for perishables.

Mayor Ken Livingstone expressed concern about fortnightly collections after Harrow changed its rounds from once a week. The council says residents now have three bins for different kinds of waste and still have two of them collected weekly. Hertsmere council in Hertfordshire sparked widespread opposition when it introduced fortnightly collections last autumn, with hundreds of people ringing a rubbish hotline every week. Town halls are desperate to reduce the amount of waste they send to landfill in order to avoid EU fines which would push up council tax bills.