Wheelie bins will be coming to Merton this October – but not everybody is happy about it.

Council leader Stephen Alambritis updated the Merton Overview and Scrutiny Committee about plans on Tuesday (July 17) night.

Two wheelie bins will be issued for each household – one for general waste, the other for paper and card, plus a food waste bin and a box for plastics.

Some residents have been sceptical whether the change in waste collection will help rubbish on the street while others are concerned about having enough space in front of their houses.

Cllr Alambritis said: “We are introducing a new waste collection service – there will be wheelie bins in October for our residents. I know they are very much looking forward to those.

“We will be flexible and there will be a number of roads that are exempt because of their make up.

“And after a year, once the economies of scale have gone in, we will be flexible with residents about their future needs and a bespoke service.

“But that’s after we’ve introduced the standard service to residents.”

The service is being delivered by Veolia and will see similar schemes rolled out across the South London Waste Partnership which also includes Kingston, Croydon and Sutton.

Cllr Alambritis added: “We hope that this will increase recycling from 37 per cent to 45 per cent and keep our streets cleaner.

“And more importantly it will save £1.6 million to go to [services for] the elderly,  children and low income families.”