From today (April 15), all black bin rubbish collections for street-level (kerbside) homes in Lambeth will change from being every week to every two weeks.

Under the change, recycling collections, via green wheelie bins and food waste bin collections, remain weekly.

But black bins for non-recyclable waste are emptied fortnightly.

The borough-wide change only applies to household’s living in kerbside properties, which are those that put their wheelie bins out in the street for collection.

As well as weekly recycling and food waste, these homes also have access to weekly collections of small electrical items and batteries.

Collections from communal bins on estates, as well as from properties that have their rubbish collected from sacks remain unchanged.

The rollout of fortnightly rubbish collection is part of Lambeth’s broader 2030 vision that is a net-zero compatible borough with reduce, re-use and recycle at its “heart”.

You can reduce waste in your black bin rubbish by using the green recycling wheelie bin which accepts paper, card, glass bottles, plastic items, metal cans, and food and drink cartons.

The food waste bin is suitable for meat, fish, fruits, vegetables, dairy products, bread, grains, tea, coffee, and kitchen paper towels.

For households in Tulse Hill and West Dulwich, fortnightly collections of rubbish started on February 6.

A spokesperson for Lambeth Council said that the two routes has seen recycling jump to 59 per cent - this compares to a borough-wide kerbside recycling rate of 43 per cent.

Cllr Rezina Chowdhury, Cabinet Member for Sustainable Lambeth, and Clean Air said: “These are great results and I applaud our residents who have got on board with this initial roll out and embraced recycling, particularly food recycling. It’s great news.

“We understand that this is a change that will take some getting used to for everyone, but it’s an important one as we move towards a borough where we waste less, re-use more and increase recycling rates.

“More than half of London boroughs have already made this switch, and we have used experience gained elsewhere to help us make this change.”