Liverpool City Council is to buy out the joint venture company currently responsible for collecting bins.
Earlier this year, the council announced it was setting up a Local Authority Trading Company (Latco) to deliver the service as a way of cutting costs by £1m a year and boosting recycling rates to 55% by 2020.
The council said the quickest way of taking over the service was to acquire the remaining 80% shares and existing fleet from Amey.
Cllr Steve Munby, the council’s cabinet member for neighbourhoods, said: ‘These legal agreements allow us to move to the new company in a quick and efficient way. We are confident that the changes we have agreed with the workforce will deliver savings of £1m a year in running costs and help us reach our recycling target of 55% by 2020.
‘The icing on the cake is that we will bring the Grounds Maintenance contract into the LATCO three years before the contract would have finished. This is costing us £3m a year at present and I believe there is scope for considerable savings.’
The existing workforce originally put forward the proposal for a Latco, arguing it will allow the council more flexibility in the service to improve performance and reduce costs.