People living in the former Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council area will soon be able to recycle plastic bottles from the kerbside for the first time, when a new collection service starts next month.

The service is being introduced by Shropshire Council and their waste contractors Veolia Environmental Services. It has already been introduced in the former Oswestry and North Shropshire districts and will be rolled out across the rest of the Shropshire Council area over the next 12 months.

Collections of plastic bottles in the Shrewsbury area will be made for the first time in the week commencing Monday 2 August alongside the existing recycling collection, and then every two weeks after that.

When the new service starts, people will be asked to put their recycling out for collection in three kerbside collection boxes, rather than two as at present. Paper should be put in one box; glass should be put in another; and plastic bottles should be placed in the third, along with cans.

Many residents will already have a third recycling box from when kerbside boxes were first delivered to properties in 2003. However, anyone who doesn’t have a third box can call Shropshire Council on 0345 678 9007  to request one.

A leaflet giving more information about the new service will also be delivered to households, along with a new collection calendar.

Members of staff from Veolia and Shropshire Council will also be out and about across Shrewsbury from 20 July to 13 August to explain the new scheme to residents.

Residents will be asked to wash and squash their plastic bottles, remove and discard the lids, and then place the bottles into their recycling box, with their cans.

Councillor Mike Owen, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for waste, said: “The collection of plastic bottles from the kerbside has already proved extremely popular with residents in the Oswestry and north Shropshire areas and is helping to boost the amount of household waste that is recycled in Shropshire. I’m pleased that this service will now be available to people in the Shrewsbury area too and hope residents will make good use of the service to ensure that their plastic bottles are recycled.

The plastic bottle collection service will be introduced in the former South Shropshire district in November 2010, with the former Bridgnorth district due to follow by March 2011.

Residents in these other areas should continue to use local recycling centres to recycle plastic bottles and are asked not to hoard plastic bottles until their collection begins as the collection vehicles will not be able to cope with the resulting volumes.