Fortnightly recycling service for glass, plastic, paper and metal

Currently, most Sheffielders have a black bin for general waste which is collected once a week, as well as a blue bin for paper and card which is collected monthly. Around a fifth of people in the city – some 45,000 homes – are also able to recycle garden waste through a green bin.

When the new service is introduced, normal waste will continue to be collected weekly, but all recyclables will also be collected fortnightly.

Leaflets will drop through letterboxes across Sheffield from next week, giving details of the service and when it will be rolled out to each part of the city.

The first areas to get the leaflets and then the new blue boxes will include Stocksbridge, Chapeltown, Oughtibridge and Parson Cross. The new collections in those areas will begin during March and April.

The second phase will move south to cover Shirecliffe, Stannington and Fulwood during June and July, followed by Shiregreen, Burngreave, Darnall, Sharrow, Gleadless Valley, Dore and Totley in September and October. The final areas to receive the new services will include Handsworth, Heeley, Beighton and Halfway during October and November.

Councillor Shaffaq Mohammed, Sheffield Council's environment spokesman, said: "Local people said that they wanted to be able to recycle more materials and we have been able to offer all this without the need of an extra bin, which would clutter up pavements.

"We want to make it much easier for local people to recycle, with the ultimate aim of seeing an increase in Sheffield's recycling."

The new kerbside recycling service will collect plastic bottles, metal cans and glass bottles and jars in the blue bin currently used for paper and card. Paper and card will be collected in a new large blue box.

These changes come after a survey found that just 42 per cent of Sheffielders are happy with the council's recycling service – the lowest satisfaction rate of any major city in the UK.

This year Sheffield is expected to recycle 28 per cent of its waste. It is hoped that the new kerbside collections will bring this up to around 35 per cent, with a view to hit the target of 45 per cent by 2015.