Redbridge Council will pilot giving residents wheelie bins in a bid to cut down on the amount of money that is spent on rubbish collections.

The local authority said the idea is backed by residents after 62per cent voted in favour of the idea in a Waste Reduction Strategy consultation.

Redbridge has been named as the fourth highest for dumping rubbish in the UK and 50per cent of the garbage collected is said to be food.

The council hopes that by trialling wheelie bins, people will think more about what they will throw out.

Cabinet member for civic pride Councillor John Howard said: “Introducing wheelie bins could be a triple win for residents and the council.

“We currently spend over £18million a year of taxpayers’ money collecting 22million black sacks of rubbish and switching to bins would produce significant savings in the longer term.

“The scheme also has the potential to lift our recycling rate to over 30pc and set us on our way to becoming a greener borough.

“We are committed to cleaning up our streets and moving away from sacks keeps front gardens clear, help us tackle the fly-tipping problem and stops commercial businesses from dumping trade waste in front gardens, which is a growing problem.

“We know our residents want great neighbourhoods and this scheme will help us reduce the impact of waste on the local environment.”

Plans about the trial will be voted on at a cabinet meeting on March 18.

Proposals to double the borough’s recycling rate to 50pc will also be unveiled.

Redbridge Council leader, Councillor Jas Athwal said: “This is really exciting news - we have listened to residents who overwhelmingly support the introduction of wheelie bins.

“However, we need to make sure we iron out any issues early with a trial run – ensuring residents get a say at every step of the process.

“We are committed to making our borough greener and these new bins could dramatically increase our recycling rate while cutting down on fly-tipping, making Redbridge better for everyone, now and in the future.”

Results from the waste survey, which attracted the highest response for an online questionnaire in 2018, showed that people want to reduce the amount thrown away – with more than 98pc agreeing that recycling is important.

More than 61pc of residents also said they would make use of a separate food waste collection, so the council will be working up plans to introduce a weekly caddy scheme.