North West Leicestershire District Council has published the results of a survey asking people to choose their favourite option for recycling collection - after almost 20,000 residents took part.

More than half of the people giving their views said they would prefer the two wheelie bin option.

Now, the council is to analyse the results - which received 19,507 responses.

The top line figures published by the council showed that of the three options presented:

• 61 per cent of people would prefer two wheelie bins
• 23 per cent of people would prefer the Quatro bin
• 16 per cent of people would prefer two stackable trolleys

The survey was the first step in a wider review of the service and any change in waste collection is unlikely to happen for another two years across the Ashby de la Zouch and Measham area.

The council says it will now work on options for collection, considering government guidance, costings, carbon savings and recycling performance.

Responses to the survey gave headline figures and also generated around 5,500 comments from customers, which, the council adds, need to be fully analysed to look for trends, alongside postcode data and information about house types.

This week, guidance from DEFRA has been issued to local authorities, which, for the first time, supports the idea of co-mingled bins.

Here, all recycling could be collected in one wheelie bin.

This guidance will ultimately become law, so the council says it needs to be considered when looking at options.

The council says that any alternative collection containers will need investment in the containers themselves, as well as new vehicles and machinery at the sorting depot - and adds that this financial analysis will be a key part of the decision-making process.

All councillors will be involved in discussions about the options over the summer, with reports going to Community Scrutiny Committee in Autumn - and then to Cabinet for a decision.

Once a decision has been made, the council says it will draft a plan confirming the timescales for introducing new recycling containers to the district's 50,000 households.

The two wheelie-bin option was favoured by 61 per cent of those who took part in the survey

The plan will need to consider existing disposal contracts with Leicestershire County Council and future Government requirements to collect recycling – including food waste, cartons and plastic bags/wrapping - from the kerbside.

Councillor Michael Wyatt, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Communities and Climate Change at NWLDC said: "Bin collection is a council service that affects every household, so we're not surprised that the response to our survey has been so great.

"I'd like to thank everyone for taking the time to give us their views, as this feedback can now be part of the decision-making process here.

"This survey is the very first part of a wider review of our waste collection service and we have the top line results.

"The job now is to take a closer look at the detail of the feedback and do some work around costing and practical considerations, as well as speaking to councillors and going through the scrutiny process.

"The new guidance from the Government on their expectations for the future of recycling collection in the UK is significant – for the first time they have supported the idea of all recycling being collected in one bin - so this will form part of our analysis.

"Whatever we decide upon, it's likely that it will take a couple of years to start implementing the change due to contracts with partners, and the purchasing of new vehicles and containers."

The full results of the bin survey can be seen HERE.