Cornwall Council's cabinet will meet in just over a week to finally make a decision over who should be given the new waste, recycling collection and street cleaning contract for the county.

There have been a number of delays in the process, which has also seen plans change.

The council had originally planned for the next operator to offer a weekly recycling collection and fortnightly black bag collection.

It was hoped that by doing this the council could improve recycling rates in Cornwall which are among some of the lowest in the country.

However it was unable to find an operator who could provide the service within the council’s budget so last month council leader Julian German was forced to amend the specifications of the contract to encourage more affordable bids.

The current contract is due to expire in April 2020 but the council has secured a six-month extension to allow it to finalise the new contract.

Under the new plans rubbish and recyclables would be collected fortnightly and food waste would be collected weekly. Households will also be provided with a single wheelie bin for general rubbish and caddies for food waste. The existing bags and box for recycling would continue to be used.

The council also recently agreed to spend £62 million on a fleet of vehicles to use for the new service – a factor which has fuelled talk of the council taking the service in-house.

Cornwall Council went back to the bidders with a revised specification, seeking a reduction in price.

Cabinet members will now hear all the detail of the bids when they meet on January 9, although much of it cannot be made public yet owing to commercial sensitivity.

The council has promised it will release the name of the preferred contractor once the final bidders have been informed.

Councillor Rob Nolan, portfolio holder for environment and public protection, said: “Cornwall Council has done a thorough job in seeking best value for the public purse while also providing Cornwall with a high standard of recycling and waste collection services.

"Our plans are in line with the government’s draft Environmental Bill and Cornwall Council’s Resource and Waste Strategy.

“We have now received highly competitive, professional bids with reduced prices, and this allows us to recommend to cabinet that we award the contract. We are grateful to the bidders for their help in getting us to this stage.

“We are keen to press ahead with delivering these new services, and householders should see them rolled out during 2021. In the meantime, it would be good preparation for everyone to seek to minimise their waste and maximise their recycling using the current services – around 57 per cent of the contents of the average black bin bag in Cornwall is made up of food waste or other recyclable materials.

“This is a time of exciting change for Cornwall to bring our services in line with the best elsewhere in England. Some of the top performing local authorities already operate weekly food waste and fortnightly recycling and rubbish collections.

“We acknowledge that householders will have many questions about the new collection services, and we will be in touch to give details well in advance of their introduction.

“The people of Cornwall told us clearly in the 2017 waste survey that they want to recycle as much as possible, and this new provision for food waste will help make this happen.”

There will be no changes to waste collections until summer 2021.