It will be next month before councillors decide on proposals to switch general rubbish collections from weekly to fortnightly, it has emerged.
City council environment director, Ken Laing, has also said efforts are being made to ensure people living in flats can cope with the change.
In response to a query from Liberal Democrat councillor Fraser Macpherson, Mr Laing said: “I can confirm that we are currently in the process of preparing a report for committee, setting out the proposed future strategy for waste collection and recycling in order to comply with new government legislation.
“I had hoped to have this report to committee in February. However, we are still in the process of finalising this report and it is now likely to be March before this comes to committee.
“There are a number of scenarios we have been considering, all of which will involve some form of weekly collections of waste being undertaken. However, the key change will be about what it is that we collect on a weekly basis.
“While we are looking at the introduction of fortnightly collections for residual waste, I confirm that any such proposal would be on the basis that we increase the provision of recycling facilities and collections for residents across the city.
“Our aim is to significantly reduce the amount of residual waste that we have to collect and dispose of and to increase the amount of recyclate we collect be it paper, metals, plastics or food.
“The number of flatted properties that we have in the city will make introducing these changes more of a challenge.
“However, I can confirm that we will be bringing forward proposals that will seek to deal with this matter.”
Mr Macpherson said he remained nervous about any move away from weekly general waste collections given that many flats had limited storage space for rubbish.