Bury Council was the first in England to collect rubbish bins once every three weeks

Bury Council was the first in England to collect rubbish bins once every three weeks and whilst it received 18 formal complaints, there were 65 compliments registered since the grey bin collection regime began a year ago.

Waste, which cannot be recycled, was previously collected once a fortnight in the borough.

Concerns of overflowing bins and rat and insect infestations were initially raised by angry residents following the change.

But council officers say thousands of tonnes of general rubbish are no longer being sent to landfill and the borough’s recycling rate is around 57 per cent, comparing very favourably to 43 per cent in 2013, and just 29 per cent in 2011.

The changes included collecting the green (for paper and cardboard) and blue (for plastic and glass) bins more frequently, and the brown bins (for food and garden waste) remained at every two weeks.

Latest figures show that, in the first full year, the amount of grey bin waste collected has been reduced by 16 per cent. In contrast, paper and cardboard waste has increased by 673 tonnes and plastic and glass by 726 tonnes, with brown bin waste up by 1,349 tonnes. Overall recycling rates have gone up by nine per cent.

Council leader Mike Connolly said: “This is great news for local taxpayers and our environment. The changes will save around £800,000 a year in disposal and landfill costs, which is absolutely vital in keeping frontline services going at a time when the council faces massive ongoing budget cuts.”

He added: “I want to thank Bury residents for getting behind our mission to recycle as much as we possibly can and for putting the right stuff in the right bin. Let’s all keep up the good work and reach our target to recycle 60 per cent by March 2016.”

New collection calendars and details of Christmas collections will be delivered to all households in the run-up to the festive season.