Controversial new slop buckets will be rolled out in Sandwell from next Monday, it emerged today.

The new “food recycling service” which will see householders keep kitchen slops in the home, will be sent out to 128,000 households from Monday. All homes will have the buckets by January.

Under the plans householders will have to sort rubbish four ways. This will be garden waste, dry recycling, food waste and rubbish.

Two buckets will be given to each home, a five litre container for the kitchen where food scraps and peelings will be collected and a 25-litre bin for the garden, which the kitchen buckets will be emptied into.

The scheme is being rolled out by Serco, which runs the borough’s £650 million waste contract.

As part of the improvements, blue lid recycling collections will also become weekly. This follows the introduction of new collection days during the summer which means that, for the first time, residents now have all their bins picked up on the same day of the week.

Around 7,500 properties a week will receive the bins as part of the roll out.

A leaflet will be sent to residents a week before their bins are delivered, notifying them of the change in service.

Councillor Derek Rowley, Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for neighbourhood services, said: “Residents will have a new household bin to use instead of black sacks which can split or get ripped by animals and generally make a mess of the streets. The food recycling containers will help people to save money as they will see how much food they throw away.”

The changes are part of wider plans to modernise waste, recycling and street cleaning services in the borough.

Last week the Express & Star revealed that the amount of food waste collected in slop buckets in Wolverhampton has fallen every single month since they were rolled out.