FRIDAY black bin waste collections will go ahead as normal on Good Friday (March 25).

Collections due the following week however, will run one day later than normal, due to no collections taking place on Easter Monday (March 28).

Collections will also run one day late following both the May Bank Holidays.

Councillor Marrilyn Smart, Cabinet Member for the Environment at the Forest of Dean District Council, said: "We would like to take this opportunity to remind residents about how their collections are affected by the forthcoming bank holidays to ensure that collections run smoothly."

She added: "Usually the annual waste and recycling calendars are posted to all households in February - before the current calendars expire at the end of March. These tell residents what materials they need to put out for collection and on which days.

"Later this year, we will be changing the way we collect recycling. We are postponing the distribution of calendars until the new service starts because collection frequencies, as well as the materials collected, will be changing."

From August 1, the Council will introduce a new weekly kerbside service for dry recycling and expand the items collected to include plastic bottles, cardboard and textiles; these materials will be in addition to the glass, tins/cans, empty aerosols, paper and domestic batteries which are already picked up by the Council for recycling from the kerbside.

A fortnightly recycling service for small electrical and electronic appliances will also be launched. Full details will be provided nearer the time.

Until the new calendars arrive, residents can check on current collection information by visiting www.fdean.gov.uk and using the online bin collection calendar tool or by calling the Council’s customer services team on 01594 810000 during office opening hours.

Downloadable versions of the calendar for the period April 1 to July 31 are available at www.fdean.gov.uk