TEST Valley Borough Council (TVBC) is set to take over bottle bank collections, starting Thursday, August 1.

The authority says the move will enable a more efficient, effective and responsive service to be offered to residents in the borough.

TVBC has used its current contractor to undertake the work for the past seven years but recently decided to bring the service in-house after the cost of outsourcing looked set to increase.

The council’s environmental portfolio holder, Councillor Alison Johnston, said: “Bringing collections in-house will enable us to offer a more efficient, effective and responsive service to the residents of Test Valley.

“Bottle banks continue to be a popular way to for people to recycle their glass across the country and Test Valley is no exception.

“In fact, there are more than one hundred local recycling centres located throughout the borough.

“We know our residents are fantastic at recycling their glass. Last year we collected almost 2,900 tonnes, which amounts to around 77 percent of the borough’s glass being sent for recycling.

“While these figures are really good there is still more we can do as some glass is still being placed in black household waste bins.

“If anyone has any glass bottle and jars then we would ask them to please pop them in their nearest bottle bank and our teams shall whisk them away for recycling.”

Residents can find their nearest local recycling centre at www.recyclenow.com/locator