The amount of rubbish sent to landfill from Colchester has dropped by more than a quarter since new tough limits on household waste were introduced.

Three weeks ago homes in the borough were restricted to just one wheelie bin or three black bags of rubbish per fortnight – with residents expected to recycle the rest or dispose of it in their weekly food waste collection.

In the first two weeks of the new rules, Colchester Borough Council has seen a 28% reduction in the amount of residual (black bag) waste sent to landfill compared to the same fortnight the previous year.

This is a drop of 370 tonnes – which if applied to the whole year could see more than 9,600 fewer tonnes of rubbish going to landfill.

Jessica Scott-Boutell, borough councillor for waste and sustainability, said: “These impressive early figures provide clear evidence the new collection service is beginning to make a huge difference.

“I am absolutely delighted residents have embraced the new service so well and are helping to increase the total amount of waste we now recycle.”

The figures come on the back of data released last week showing how food waste collection had increased by 50% compared to the same period in 2016.

In the second week there were 600 missed collections and 415 in the third – compared to an average of 90 – as the system came into effect.

A total of 116 formal complaints have been received since the beginning of the new scheme – with around one-third on the policy, and two-thirds on operational issues.

Overall 240,000 collections are made per week.