Now Labour want to shrink our wheelie bins

A Government report calls for the nationwide introduction of 'bonsai bins', a little more than half the size of the current 240-litre models, to encourage households to separate their rubbish for recycling.

And the new guidelines warn against letting larger families keep the old big bins because other households might suffer from 'bin envy'.

People who fail to cram all their non-recyclable waste into the 140-litre European-style wheelie bins will face criminal prosecution if they leave extra rubbish on the street in bags.

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Labour's latest bin initiative comes amid the continuing controversy over new rubbish taxes and the scrapping of weekly collections - 180 town halls now empty bins only once a fortnight.

The Tories warned that shrinking the size of wheelie bins would lead to more fly-tipping while doing little to promote recycling.

The plan is contained in a report by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap), a quango set up by Labour to draw up guidelines for local councils on rubbish collection.

The new guidance praises the pilot schemes carried out by several authorities, which have quietly introduced the small bins, and calls for others to follow their example.

The report suggests that councils "issue a standard bin to all properties" and, borrowing from the language of Freudian psychoanalysis, coins a new social condition - bin envy.

It states: "Large bins work for families that need the extra capacity but they may become victims of 'bin envy' from those who have to make do with the small bins."

The guidance demands a clampdown on householders who do not put their waste into the proper bins.

And it suggests that any bin so full that the lid cannot be closed properly should also be left unemptied.

The report raises the prospect of more ordinary families facing criminal charges under legislation already on the statute book aimed at combating professional fly-tippers.

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People who fail to bin their waste properly could either be dragged through the courts to receive a maximum £1,000 fine or be hit with an instant fixed-penalty notice from the council of up to £100.

Eric Pickles, Conservative local government spokesman, said: "I am alarmed that a Whitehall quango is trying to cajole town halls into curtailing the frequency and scope of local rubbish collections.

"Labour's bully-boys want to impose smaller European-style bins on top of this, backed up with unfair fines for putting a rubbish bag next to the overflowing bin.

"Shrinking the bin size threatens to increase fly-tipping and harm the local environment."

Wrap has been at the heart of the major political debates on waste and recycling.

The quango, which reports to Environment Secretary Hilary Benn, was at the centre of controversy when it emerged that its previous boss, Jennie Price, had earned £212,000 in a single year - £23,000 more than Prime Minister Gordon Brown.