Here's what people should know if they're refusing to accept the new four wheelie bins per household scheme in Milton Keynes

Residents who refuse to accept the city’s new wheelie bin scheme could end up having to take their own rubbish to the tip each week, it has been revealed.

The new system will involve every household being issued with four bins – a standard green wheelie bin for food and garden waste plus three new 180 litre bins with different coloured lids for other rubbish and recycling.

The system is due to start in September but the new bins, which have cost the council £5m, will be distributed from next month onwards.

While most people have welcomed the change, some residents are objecting. People living in smaller terraced homes fear they will be unable to store and manoeuvre four large bins, while others with no front gardens say there is not enough room on the pavement to put them out on collection day.

Hundreds of people have filled in a form asking for permission to use sacks for their rubbish instead. All of these will be visited by council official, who will inspect their garden and access space. Visits have started this month and continue for weeks.

An MK City Council spokesman said: “Eligibility for a review is based on specific criteria around storage space and access; residents can’t request a review based on personal preferences for bins or sacks.”

Some residents say they’ve been told the council could refuse pointblank to deal with their rubbish if the review deems them eligible for bins but they persist in using sacks.

One elderly man told the Citizen: “They told me I could end up having to take my own sacks to the tip every week. I don’t even drive, so I have no idea how I’d do that.”

We asked the council if this was correct and a spokesman said: “The information they were told is true, councils can legally refuse to collect rubbish unless it’s presented in a certain way.

She added: “But of course we don’t want it to get to that stage. Residents who have access or storage issues should let us know via the postcode checker on our website, so we can assess the property.

“Where a property is confirmed as suitable for wheelie bins, but the resident has a disability or medical condition with nobody else to put their waste out, they can apply for an assisted collection where we collect bins from just outside a person’s door instead of at the boundary.”

The spokesman added: “Around 85% of the UK uses wheelie bins and we intend MK’s new collection system to be among the greenest thanks to the innovative way we process waste and increasingly by using waste to power electric vehicles, giving residents something to be very proud of.

"More people responded to our consultation about bins than any other consultation we've run, and three quarters of those residents preferred wheelie bins.”

You can use a special special online postcode checker on the council’s website to check whether you’ve been assessed as fit for bins or sacks.