Councillors in Watford have agreed to delay planned changes to waste and recycling collections until September, because of the impact of coronavirus.

As part of the plans, non-recyclable rubbish bins will be emptied every two weeks instead of every week.

A new weekly food waste collection will be launched – and charges will be brought in for the collection of garden waste.

The changes were due to be introduced by Veolia in July.

But on Monday, a meeting of the cabinet at Watford Borough Council agreed that the measures should be delayed until September.

Councillor Tim Williams said in the meeting: "These changes are coming in to effect  to encourage more recycling making Watford a greener town and to provide value for money.

"However in light of the current national situation with regard to coronavirus and associated impacts it soon became apparent that July 1 would be challenging – and in particular with regards to the introduction of the new food waste bins.

"And also by delaying it for two months would allow Veolia to have more time to deal with the immediate crisis caused by coronavirus.

"Delaying service changes until September 7 therefore is right and makes sense."

The change was backed unanimously by the meeting of the cabinet – meeting virtually for the first time.

Watford mayor Peter Taylor, chairing the meeting, said the situation would be "kept under review", after Labour leader Councillor Nigel Bell, who is not on the Cabinet, questioned whether delaying the changes to September was long enough.

When the planned waste changes are implemented the number of black bin collections will be halved, but existing blue-lidded bins – for mixed dry recyclables such as glass and tins – will continue to be emptied weekly.

Residents will be issued with new 23-litre brown bins  for cooked and uncooked food waste, that will be collected weekly and used for compost or electricity.

And there will be a yearly subscription for the fortnightly collection of garden waste (using existing green bins). 

This will cost £45, £40 if paid by direct debit and £35 to those who are entitled to a concession.

As a result of the delay, subscriptions for the garden waste service will run from September 1, 2020, to August 31, 2021.

According to the original report, income from garden waste collections would have generated £295,000 for the council this year (2020/21).

But the report to Monday’s meeting acknowledges that the delay in implementing the charges is likely to result in this “not being fully met” in 2020/21.