Tens of thousands of homes woke up to find another new bin outside their homes this week.

Changes to refuse collections in Croydon has started heralding a change to the way residents throw away their household waste.

Fortnightly waste collections have been introduced, with a weekly collection of food waste in an effort to cut the amount of waste sent to landfill sites.

Residents in 126,000 households have been given two food waste bins, a small one for the kitchen and a larger one for outside which will be emptied weekly, meaning no food needs to go into a landfill bin.

In preparation for the change residents have also been sent a starter pack explaining how the new system works.

The scheme is expected to save the council more than £600,000 every year, while increasing recycling rates in the borough to over 45 percent by 2013.

Councillor Phil Thomas, cabinet member for environment and highways, said: "We in Croydon have to recycle more of our rubbish or else council tax payers foot the increasingly expensive bill.

"We will be starting the food waste collection as planned and have no intention of reverting back to the old system. The new system is good for the environment and popular with council tax payers who want to recycle."

Last week, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, announced £250 million would be made available to councils in England to keep or restore weekly bin collections, but Croydon Council have declined to join the scheme with collection changes being implemented this week as planned.