BIN MEN in Bromsgrove could be saved from the sack by an ambitious £3.3m project to revolutionise rubbish collection.

The town's head of environmental services, David Williams told the Health and Leisure Scrutiny Committee the plans to revolutionise refuse collection. He restated no one would be made redundant.

Councillor David McGrath (Lab - Beacon) said: "It's very good that there will be no redundancies.

"I think the new project sounds very exciting. I know that when my house took part in the trial of the recycling scheme our household waste was reduced by about 50 per cent."

David Williams said staff would be redeployed to work in other areas of the rubbish collection process, rather than being made redundant.

The new scheme will have two wheelie bins per household, so the rubbish can be sorted. The rubbish will be collected bi-weekly, so one week will be for residual waste and the next week will be dry recyclables. Home composting will also be encouraged.

Critics of the scheme had been concerned the wheelie bins would smell, as the residual waste will be picked up every other week.

But, at the scrutiny committee meeting last Tuesday night in the Council House, David Williams allayed those fears. He said a similar scheme in Daventry had found that no smells were omitted if the lids of the wheelie bins were closed. He added: "We can learn from other areas' trials and mistakes to make this scheme the best possible."

The revolutionary new scheme is due to start in March 2004.