New wheelie bins were being delivered to homes in Wolverhampton today – signalling the end of green boxes and unpopular white bags.

It will take until the end of February for all 98,000 households to get the smaller brown bins as part of a £1.7 million roll-out.

At least 7,000 flimsy white recycling bags costing taxpayers £1 a time have been replaced after blowing away. However, Wolverhampton City Council will not take away the old bags and boxes, saying most people wanted to put them to other uses.

Councillor Bob Jones, who is in charge of bin collections, said today: “The box may be useful for keeping in the house and using to transfer the recycling to the wheelie bin.”

The new bins will be for rubbish that cannot be recycled. The council has pledged to carry on emptying them every week along with slop buckets for food, but the amount people can throw away with recycling is falling from 240 litres to 140 litres.

The old black wheelie bins will be used for paper, cans, glass, cardboard and plastic that can be recycled.

The black wheelie bin and a green one for garden waste will be emptied fortnightly.

The new brown bins were being delivered to most of Bushbury, Low Hill, Fallings Park, Wednesfield and Heath Town this week, followed by Bilston, Ettingshall, East Park, Blakenhall and Spring Vale before the end of the month.

Penn and Park wards will get them on February 6, followed by Graiseley, Merry Hill, most of Tettenhall and part of Oxley on February 20.  The roll-out will be complete on February 27.