Householders facing £100 rubbish tax under controversial new 'pay-as-you-throw' recycling scheme

People who refuse to recycle their waste would be charged a penalty, while greener households would benefit from a rebate.

The Government initially insisted that incentives and penalties would be around £30 to £50.

Officials dismissed claims by critics that the real cost would be £100 or even more.

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Ministers now believe that a £100 charge or rebate may be needed to encourage householders to tackle Britain's waste mountain.

In many cities and towns, householders were expected to be exempt from pay-as-you-throw because of difficulties in implementing it for flats, given that waste is often discarded in communal bins.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone warned that the scheme would be a "disaster" if introduced in the capital.

Ministers accept that there are difficulties for flats but they want town halls to investigate how it could work.

Some cities already operate pay-as-you-throw for houses and flats. In Brussels, households dispose of residual rubbish - such as food waste and nappies - in official white bin bags, which they have to purchase from shops. Bags for recycling, such as blue for plastics and bottles, are cheaper.

In several cities, including New York, inspectors check bags that breach recycling rules and try to trace culprits. If they are not found, a whole block of flats faces being fined.

Some smaller blocks of flats in London already have a bin for each household and they could be given padlocks to prevent neighbours dumping rubbish to avoid a charge.

The Local Government Association, which represents town halls, signalled it may back pay-as-you-throw for flats.

A spokesman said: "If a scheme could be developed for flats that was workable and fair to residents, we would support that." Five pilot projects on the waste scheme are to be carried out.

Householders' non-recyclable waste could be weighed, with a certain amount a year being free. Those who stayed below the allowance would get rebates and people who exceeded it would have to pay more.

Alternatively, people could receive a limited number of marked rubbish bags for their waste and would have to buy more if they had to dispose of any excess.

Increasing the penalties and incentives was immediately criticised by the Conservatives but won support from environmentalists.

Shadow environment secretary Peter Ainsworth said: "We support measures to improve recycling and reduce waste but bullying has never been a good way of getting people to do things."

Michael Warhurst, Friends of the Earth's senior waste campaigner, said: "The concept of paying less to recycle more is a positive step in the right direction, as long as kerbside services are in place to support that recycling."