RESIDENTS living in the most densely populated and narrowest streets are bracing themselves for wheelie bins and fortnightly collections under a new £144million waste contract.

Southend Council announced on Monday that SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK will take over recycling, waste, and street cleansing services from Veolia from April, including the roll-out of alternate weekly collections aimed at boosting recycling rates.

However, thousands of residents living in areas like Milton and Westborough wards will struggle to accommodate wheelie bins on their property.

Lydia Hyde, councillor responsible for climate, environment and waste, is confident issues will be resolved ahead of the full roll-out in October next year, with homes set to be assessed and “pick-up points” for collections created.

She said: “In the in-between period we are finalising every single property to see which can have bins and which can’t.

“There are some areas of concerns where it will be harder for pick-ups and a lot of that will come down to where the pick-up points are for the wheelie bins. Those details are going to be finalised in the next few months.”

Ms Hyde said pick-up points would be agreed spots near the front of properties. Those deemed not to have room for bins will continue to get bags and services to flats will remain unchanged, with sacks provided to go in large bins collected weekly.

Ms Hyde added: “The number one thing we are trying to do and where the real cost is, is in our disposal contract. We are talking hundreds of thousands of pounds, one per cent of recycling saves £100,000. It’s a lot of money.

“The reason councils do move over to having this arrangement is that it encourages people to recycle waste more. At the moment we are at 40 per cent recycling and in our black bags we know that over half of what they are putting in there could be recycled. A lot of food waste is going in for example.”

Free bulky waste collections have been confirmed as part of the service and while most residents will have 180 litre bins, families of six or more will get 240 litre bins.

Seaforth Road, Westcliff, resident Julian Lowes, said: “We can’t keep a wheelie bin outside the front of our property. We’ve got two vehicles, where do we put them?

“I really don’t think they’ve thought it through. If we had bins out the back it’s very difficult to get them to the front. We’d have to bring them through the house. I’m not doing that. We created a driveway from our garden to get two vehicles on. It’s going to be horrendous.”