AROUND 64,000 households in Carmarthenshire will be affected by changes to bin collections from October 31.

For most people the main alteration will be a change of collection day, but some residents will also be affected by other changes such as different blue and black bag collection weeks.

You can check if your collection day or week is changing by visiting My House on i-Local online and simply entering your postcode and selecting your address. If you are affected, you will be notified by post between Monday, October 10 and Friday, October 28.

A small number of residents who have never received a recycling service in the past will now be able to recycle. You can visit My House on i-Local to check if you have been added to the scheme and you will receive a calendar and an information booklet by post.

If you are new to the scheme, food bins and blue bags will be delivered separately during October. If you do not receive a food bin or blue bags by October 28 you can order them online by visiting i-Local.

If you are not affected by changes to your collection, you will not be contacted by Carmarthenshire County Council. Continue as normal but remember to put your rubbish out before 6am on your collection day as changes to other households may affect your collection time.

The changes are taking place because the council are having new refuse collection vehicles and we have revised the collection routes across the county.The new vehicles will have a separate pod at the front to keep food waste separate from blue and black bags.

Also the current collection of garden waste bags will also cease from October 31 and will be replaced with a new scheme in April 2017.

The refuse vehicles and route changes will help provide an improved service and achieve recycling targets. Community recycling advisors are visiting some properties affected from August onwards to explain the changes.

The council apologise for any inconvenience caused but these changes are needed to improve the service.