New refuse collection arrangements are being introduced in the Suffolk Coastal district to save £230,000 of taxpayers’ money.

Changes will see collections starting earlier – from 6am – and some residents getting their rubbish collected on a different day.

It will allow Suffolk Coastal Services, which collects the rubbish on behalf of Suffolk Coastal District Council, to reduce the number of collection vehicles (refuse freighters) it uses across the district by about 20% – with the savings passed on to the council

While some people will have their rubbish collected on a different day, the frequency of collections for each household will remain the same – with grey-lidded bins emptied one week, and blue-lidded and brown bins emptied the next.

Following a full consultation with all the staff involved, the refuse crews will now work a four-day week, with longer hours each day, on a five-day rota.

The changes will come into force during the week beginning Monday, July 21. In the previous two weeks, all households will be notified of the revised time and day for their collections via a bin hanger.

If there is a change to the collection of different colour bins, affected households will also receive a separate notification letter.

Andrew Nunn, the council’s cabinet member for the green environment, said: “Suffolk Coastal has an ongoing commitment to provide value for money services to local people, as efficiently and effectively as possible.

“The savings that Suffolk Coastal Services are making are a major contribution towards our ability to keep council tax frozen at 2010 levels – for the fourth year in a row.”

Mark Emms, managing director of Suffolk Coastal Services, said: “For this financial year, we have agreed to make budget savings of just over half a million pounds across the range of services we provide to Suffolk Coastal, with around £230,000 of these savings coming from the refuse budget.

“I am very pleased that we have been able to achieve this without cutting staff or reducing the number of collections we provide for each household in Suffolk Coastal.”