Wheelie bins, crates, and food waste bins will soon replace black bags on Hamilton kerbsides.

Hamilton City Council approved the new service at a meeting on Thursday.

Council will roll out the wheelie bin service from July 2020, which includes replacing the current black bag collection with separate wheeled bins for rubbish and recycling, a smaller separate food waste collection bin and using the existing recycling crates for glass only.

The current recycling service, which was established in 2002, is no longer fit for purpose so the new service will be a major step forward for the city aligning it with other leading councils in New Zealand, Waste Minimisation Adviser Charlotte Catmur said.

"The new service will provide Hamilton with a rubbish and recycling service that maximises diversion while providing the greatest value to the ratepayer.

"It will also result in cleaner streets from a reduction in litter from the kerbside collection, meet the community's expectations around recycling and increase the diversion of food waste to landfill," Catmur said.

In 2016, council consulted with the community on what the kerbside collection should include.

There were around 2800 written submissions received with the majority in support of the proposed new service.

As part of the new service there will be assisted collections to help physically impaired or elderly residents and special services for intensive housing areas that cannot be serviced effectively through this kerbside collection service.

The new kerbside collection service will be: a 120 litre rubbish wheeled bin, a 240 litre recycling wheeled bin, and a 45 litre crate for glass - all collected fortnightly. There will be a 20 - 30 litre food bin collected weekly.