North Wiltshire residents must lose their weekly bin collection or face the prospect of the last landfill site reaching capacity in just 15 years.

From February all the county’s waste will be removed fortnightly, with recycling waste collected on the alternate week.

It means Chippenham, Calne, Corsham, Malmesbury, Purton and Wootton Bassett will lose their weekly collection.

Wiltshire Council faces two problems – the more it sends to landfill sites the greater penalties it will pay the government, and the landfill space left in the county is shockingly low.

Steve Burns, divisional director for the council’s waste contractors Hills, based at Lower Compton, near Calne, said: “After this landfill is completed there is no more designated in Wiltshire. That’s it. We have 14 remaining cells and they on average last 14 months each.”

To help residents, a fortnightly collection of plastic bottles and cardboard will be introduced from October. This will come in the form of a 240-litre blue lid bin and will sit alongside the existing black box for other recycling.

Coun Toby Sturgis, cabinet member for waste, said: “I don’t believe we are going to start seeing giant rats roaming the streets just because we will have a fortnightly residual waste collection. This service is already in place in the east and west of the county.

“If people take advantage of the extra recycling facilities I really don’t see there being much waste left over anyway.”

Residents who pay around £30 a year for a garden waste collection will no longer have to pay. The service will be offered to everyone who wants it from February.

The expected increase in recycling and garden waste will put huge strain on Hills. The firm is submitting plans for a threefold increase in Lower Compton’s capacity in addition to a temporary facility at Porte Marsh at Calne.