Charlie Aust-bin and Binnie Piper among names to be adorned on Swindon’s new recycling lorries

Ahead of the biggest changes to the Borough's waste and recycling collections for 15 years, the Council asked residents to name the new collection lorries in order to generate heightened interest and awareness of the major upcoming changes.

More than 300 suggestions were put forward by residents when the competition was launched a couple of months ago and these have been whittled down to 17 winners.

Names suggested for the vehicles included ones referencing Swindon actress Billie Piper and Swindon Town’s star striker, Charlie Austin, as well as some more imaginative takes on popular culture including Lightning McQueen and Crash Bandicoot.

From Monday, 27 November, a new food waste collection service will be rolled out across the entire borough, as well as other changes to the way recycling is collected.

Households have one more collection on the current service before the changes are implemented and the new lorries are out collecting recycling across Swindon.

The final names were chosen by Leader of the Council, Councillor Jim Robbins, Councillor Chris Watts, Cabinet Member for The Environment and Transport, and members of the waste and recycling project team.

The winning names are:

• Lightning McClean
• Binny McBinface
• Chitty Chitty Bin Bin
• Binderella
• Trash bandicoot
• Binnie Piper
• Melinda Messcollector
• Binnie the Pooh
• Isambard Bin-dom Brunel
• Rex The Recycler
• Charlie Aust-bin
• Hungry Caterpillar
• Recyclosaurus
• Scrappie-doo
• Humpty Dumpy
• Monster Munch
• Dumpeldore

Councillor Chris Watts, Cabinet Member for The Environment and Transport, said: “It was great to see so many people getting involved with the naming of our new vehicles.

“A big thank you to everyone who submitted a name and I hope people aren’t too disappointed if their name wasn’t chosen.”

The changes to the waste and recycling service come into effect from Monday, 27 November. More information and how residents can be prepared can be found here.

Residents will need to put their waste and recycling out as follows:

• General waste in wheelie bin or blue bags
• Paper and card recycling in one of the existing black/orange recycling boxes
• Glass recycling in one of the existing black/orange recycling boxes
• Plastic and metal recycling in new weighted bag
• Food waste in large outdoor food waste bin

One weighted bag has been delivered to each household and residents are urged to squash their recycling to fit in as much as possible. If residents have not received a new recycling containers ahead of the new service changes, they can report a missed delivery on our website.

Food waste will be collected weekly, while general waste and other recycling will be collected fortnightly.

Residents who live in a property with a communal bin store are not affected by the changes at this time, so don't need any new containers.