Major changes to how rubbish from 190,000 Surrey households is collected are coming after a new £632 million waste contract was agreed.

For the past decade bins in Surrey Heath, Woking, Mole Valley and Elmbridge have been collected under a joint waste partnership, but that contract comes to an end this year after Amey decided it is leaving the industry.

Taking their place will be Veolia in a deal that could last up to 21 years, although it will first run for an initial seven-year period.

The councils said they have carried out a review of collection services and found demand had increased to the point where changes would need to be made to operational arrangements.

In addition to waste collection the contract will cover street cleansing, excluding in Woking as that is already included within a separate grounds maintenance contract.

The customer service centre, previously based in Liverpool, will now move to Surrey as part of the deal.

The contract will start in June 2027 with two further options to extend up to a maximum period to 21 years.

Officers believe that a relatively short initial term provides the new West Surrey and East Surrey Councils greater flexibility in future strategic decision-making.

The councils said they have taken on board lessons from the current contract to make improvements, including changes to how frequently streets are cleaned, and a new bookable service to collect small electrical items, batteries and textiles.

The new contract was agreed in July by the borough councils and later supported by West and East Surrey Councils – as all contract above £1m now need to be signed off by the shadow authorities before they formally take over next year.

The financial details were kept private by the councils and not made public until the tender details were published in August.