The biggest step forward for recycling in Somerset in nearly a decade starts in Wells this October.

Somerset Waste Partnership will be introducing its Recycle More service to more than 51,000 homes across Mendip over two weeks from Monday, October 26.

Most people in Somerset are recycling. Recycle More will make it easier for everyone to do even more, helping protect the environment, tackle climate change and save taxpayers' money.

Successfully trialled in the county six years ago, the new service means the following items added to weekly recycling collections:

• Plastic pots, tubs and trays
• Food and drink cartons
• Small batteries
• Small electrical items

Every home will have a new recycling container - a "Bright Blue Bag" - delivered a week or two before the new service starts.

People will need to put different things into different containers, and the bag is where plastics and metals will go.

Extra weekly recycling should mean less rubbish, so bins or black sacks will be collected every three weeks instead of the current two weeks, and all those changes will mean new collection days for some.

All households will be sent detailed information about Recycle More twice before the service arrives, at six weeks before launch and then three weeks – complete with their own collection day calendar and guide to what recycling goes into which container.

To help Mendip get ready for the change, SWP is hosting question and answer sessions on its @somersetwaste Facebook page before and after launch.

The first takes place on August 26 from 7pm to 8pm, with further sessions as follows:

• Tuesday, September 22, 7am to 8am
• Saturday, October 10, 11am to noon
• Thursday October 29, 7pm to 8pm

Managing director of Somerset Waste Partnership, Mickey Green, said: "This is an exciting step forward for recycling in Somerset and we're here to help make it work for you.

"Look out for the leaflets coming through your doors and join our Facebook Q&A sessions where we'll do our best to respond to any queries you might have.

"Somerset has a great recycling record, but still around half the contents of its average rubbish bin could have been recycled.

"People want to recycle, they want to do the right thing, and we think there will be a lot of enthusiasm for the new service.

"Recycle More is coming to Mendip first, but until it arrives it's important that people carry on recycling as they do now. Remember – nothing changes until you have your Bright Blue Bag."

Garden and clinical waste pick-ups will not change with Recycle More, and improvements for those with communal collections - such as flats and houses of multiple occupancy - are due in 2021.