IMPORTANT information about changes to bin collections will be dropped through South Lakelanders' letterboxes any day now.

The green envelope will contain a new collection calendar from the district council in a bid to 'optimise' waste and recycling collections.

It comes as part of a drive to make South Lakeland District Council’s collection services more efficient and to help deliver even more kerbside recycling.

As a result, 65 per cent of the district's homes will be see a change to their collection in the coming months.

The first phase of the project will see collection day changes for residents served by the Kendal depot, which comprises of Kendal, Staveley, Burneside, Windermere, Bowness, Sedbergh, Kirkby Lonsdale, Arnside, Milnthorpe, Beetham, Burton-in-Kendal, Grasmere and Ambleside.

New rounds are scheduled to start in the week commencing September 21, 2015.

The second phase of the project will introduce round changes for homes served by the Ulverston depot from November 2.

That includes Grange, Coniston, Hawkshead, Broughton, Ulverston, Greenodd and Swarthmoor and residents in those areas can expect a letter about changes to arrive in mid-October.

The study has examined every detail, from the types of wagons used to how narrow streets are in different areas and even how many right turns are made by wagons during a typical round, which can slow progress and delay other drivers.

By introducing the new, more efficient rounds it will allow the council to continue its roll-out of the plastic and cardboard kerbside collections to the rest of the district within existing resources – allowing the council to deliver an improved service without extra cost to the taxpayer.

For example, once the new collection days have been introduced in Arnside, Kirkby Lonsdale and Milnthorpe in September then these areas will be getting the new plastic and cardboard kerbside collections, starting from November.

Councillor Sue Sanderson, SLDC’s portfolio holder for Environment and People, said: “The project to ‘optimise’ collection rounds has been a hugely complex undertaking and has involved carefully analysing thousands of pieces of detailed data to come up with the most efficient rounds possible.

“By changing some routes, using different vehicles in different areas and altering collection days we have been able to draw up new rounds that will lead to fuel savings as well as time efficiencies.

“Saving money and being more efficient means we can continue to expand our kerbside collections across the district within existing resources. It also ‘future-proofs’ our collections by taking into account the potential new housing numbers across the district, once major development sites in the Local Plan are completed.

“As this is such a large project we recognise that there may be the odd teething issue to contend with as the new rounds settle down, but we hope residents will appreciate that we are doing this to ultimately improve our collection services and to save money for the benefit of all the district’s taxpayers.

“The key message now is to let people in the first phase area around Kendal know to look out for their green envelope which will be arriving soon, and to let people in the Ulverston area on the second phase know to look out for their green envelope in October.’’ MORE TOP STORIES: For information updates on the collection changes visit SLDC’s website: www.southlakeland.gov.uk/collectionchanges