Outrage at £50 levy to get your bins emptied weekly ... in the name of green tax

Town halls who have switched to fortnightly bin rounds are being given powers to restore more frequent pick-ups for individual homes.

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But families requesting the service are likely to face extra charges of at least £50 a year.

The levy was disclosed by Government ministers in an obscure written answer distributed to MPs.

It said the law allowing councils to charge according to the amount of rubbish they pick up also means they can issue bills for additional collections.

Joan Ruddock, Minister for Waste, said: "We have created powers in the Climate Change Bill to allow pilot schemes to operate in a variety of ways, including but not limited to weight-based schemes using microchips or schemes based on frequency of collection."

The announcement provoked fury from opposition politicians and council tax protesters. They pointed out that town halls would be charging extra for a service once covered by local taxes.

Eric Pickles, Tory local government spokesman, said: "Council tax has gone through the roof while local services like weekly rubbish collections have been slashed back.

"Now families face the prospect of paying exorbitant new bin taxes on top if they want their rubbish bins collected regularly to avoid the prospect of smelly bins, flies and vermin."

Christine Melsom, of the council tax protest group Is It Fair?, said: "This isn't about the environment. It's about ways of raising money. They are getting more and more brazen about it, but it is unbearable for many of those who have to pay."

Councils are thought likely to use microchips in wheelie bins to help them send bills to those who want their perishable refuse collected more than once a fortnight.

Tens of thousands of households have already been supplied with bins that contain microchips that identify the house or flat they belong to.

The chips could be used to record how often bins are collected as well as to help measure the weight of rubbish collected.

Councils are supposed to take no profit from pay-as-you-throw taxes.

Instead they are meant to reward those who recycle and punish those who put out most waste.

But the bureaucratic cost of setting up taxation schemes will be high - £10 a house, according to Miss Ruddock.

She added that charges for those who pay the tax could be £30 to £50 a year.

Critics say the cost is certain to rise above £100 a year for those who want weekly collections or who have large amounts of rubbish to dispose of.

Paul Bettison, waste spokesman for the Local Government Association, said: "The choice is simple and stark. Either people throw away more rubbish into their black bins and damage the environment or they recycle more and help save the planet."