Today is the last day before the new recycling regime comes into place.

On July 31, the current contract with Palm Recycling will come to an end. From this date they will start collecting all recyclable materials (paper, plastic, cardboard, metal and glass) in-house in the brown wheelie bin or woven sacks. As a result residents will no longer need to use the green boxes or blue bags for recycling.

The council have no resources available to collect any unwanted green boxes, so if you cannot find a use for yours and no longer want it then please either take to the tip or break it up and place it into your grey waste bin ( this is because it is made of a plastic mix that cannot be recycled). Sefton is one of the best recycling boroughs in Merseyside (41.1%) and it is hoped the new changes will enable them to hit our 50% target by 2020. Residents should by now have received a letter about the changes and individual calendars outlining the new collection dates for properties across the borough. Both brown and grey wheelie bins will continue to be collected on a fortnightly basis. The letters also highlight changes to the collection of food waste which will now be on a fortnightly basis. Residents who use this service will now receive rolls of free food caddy liners. Textiles will no longer be collected in the bins or sacks and residents are asked to take them to local charity shops, textile banks or Household Waste Recycling Centres. Donation bags are often delivered to households for independent doorstep collections. Cllr John Fairclough, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Locality Services, said: "We want to make recycling simple and easy, so you can now put all of your recycling in one bin. "We have consistently been one of the best recyclers in Merseyside which is a fantastic achievement and we hope that from August we will make it even easier for our residents to be the best. "During July, all residents will be sent a letter explaining the new service arrangements and a printed calendar with their collection dates shown up until 2017. "Please take the time to read the information and store your new calendar in a safe place. "In the meantime, you can go to the Sefton Council website where you can find collection dates, the opening times of the local recycling centres and details of what goes in the different bins." Enter your postcode or street name to find your collection dates at sefton.gov.uk/bindates