Westmorland and Furness Council has awarded a £4.6 million contract for new wheelie bins as it moves ahead with plans to change the way household waste is collected.

The contract, worth up to £4.6 million, has been awarded to IPL Plastics (UK) Limited, which is based in Staffordshire.

The company will supply new wheeled bins for refuse, recycling and garden waste collections.

In Penrith and across Eden, the changes will see the current blue bag system for household rubbish replaced by wheelie bins, with general waste collected fortnightly.

The new bins are being bought as part of the council's wider waste transformation programme, which was approved following the creation of Westmorland and Furness Council in 2023.

The authority previously set aside £5.75 million for the programme, with the £4.6 million bin contract accounting for a substantial proportion of that budget.

The new contract to supply the new bins will run until August 2028.

The contract also includes the disposing of the councils old plastic bins and recycling containers as part of the waste change plans.

Around 146 tonnes of old containers are expected to be collected and recycled, with the council estimating that the material will generate around £32,850.

The changes are intended to bring the different waste collection arrangements across Westmorland and Furness closer together and increase the amount of material residents can recycle.

The council says the new system will provide greater capacity for recycling and help meet the Government's "Simpler Recycling" requirements.

It also says the move to wheeled bins is expected to improve health and safety for waste collection crews.

For residents in Penrith and across Eden, the most noticeable change will be the eventual move away from the familiar blue bags for household waste.