Household bins in Sutton will only be collected every two weeks under proposals to outsource the service to a private contractor.

Weekly disposals of general waste by in-house council staff are set to be scrapped and replaced with fortnightly collections by Veolia.

The company currently provides the service in Croydon and Kingston and is bidding to expand into Sutton and Merton.

Veolia has been chosen as the preferred bidder for the contract by the South West London Waste Partnership, which comprises of the four boroughs.

Providing the eight-year contract gets the green light from each of the local authorities, fortnightly collections are expected planned to begin in Sutton in April next year.

Under the proposals only food waste will be collected on a weekly basis, separate from non-recyclable waste.

The council said the proposed changes would encourage recycling.

A spokesman said: “Recycling rates will be boosted by the introduction [of] a separate weekly food waste collection service and an increase in recycling capacity.”

In March 2013, the council pledged to keep weekly bin collections for until 2017 following a successful bid for £2.8m funding from the Waste Collection Support Scheme.

A release published on the Sutton West ward Lib Dem councillors' blog stressed that weekly collections were “very important” to people living in the borough.

It read: “The Leader of the Council has written to the Department for Communities and Local Government pledging the authority to carry on collecting residual waste on a weekly basis weekly through to 2016/17.

“Weekly bin collections are very important to residents and we have worked very hard to ensure that we continue providing that service.”

As part of the proposed new contract, Veolia is set to also take on street cleaning and winter gritting in all four of the partner boroughs.

The company will also take over management of playing fields in the borough if the contracts are agreed.

Last year Veolia was fined by Croydon Council for repeatedly missing collections after changing its waste disposal strategy for the borough.

The Landscape Group (TLG), a horticultural, landscaping and grounds maintenance specialist, is likely to take over maintenance of the borough's parks and cemeteries – services currently run by Sutton Council.

A council spokesman said: “[The contracts] have the potential to provide more than £10m of savings to Sutton over eight years while continuing to provide our residents with high-quality services.

“This is another example of how the council is taking an innovative approach to manage the unprecedented government cuts to our budget, including sharing services with neighbouring boroughs.”

The contract's will be rubber-stamped at Croydon Council’s cabinet committee meeting on July 11, providing all of the partner boroughs approve the recommendations.

The partnership’s joint waste committee is set to meet on Tuesday to review the outcome of the procurement process that started in early 2015.

Do you need a weekly bin collection? Post a comment below or email letters@suttonguardian.co.uk