Reward if you recycle, penalty if you don't

Under the pay- as- you- throw schemes, families who cannot be bothered to recycle could be hit by £50 penalties which will fund rebates for homeowners going green.

Following the bin revolt in the last local elections, town halls will be expected to provide weekly collections for food waste and to give local people a greater say on whether to move to fortnightly pick-ups.

A clampdown on fly-tipping and measures to stop people dumping waste in their neighbours' bins will be introduced.

But Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles said today: "These half-baked plans could lead to real waste wars. Forget lock up your daughters, it will be lock up your bins and beware of midnight raids by fly-tippers. These stealth taxes will turn local councils into Whitehall's tax collector."

Environment Secretary David Miliband shied away from introducing a nationwide waste charge and is leaving it up to town halls to decide whether to bring in local schemes to offer financial incentives to recycle.

Schemes could include charging by weight by using microchips in wheelie bins or making people buy black bin bags to dispose of general waste.

Councils will decide on the scale of any incentives. However, householders who recycle nearly everything could get a rebate edging towards £50 a year, while those who fail to do so could face similar sized penalties, though no limits have been set on these.

The "carrot and stick" plans for household rubbish were part of a wider package aimed at revolutionising the way Britain deals with its waste. Other measures could include banning free plastic shopping bags, reducing them by 25 per cent by 2008, and moves to slash junk mail.

In a controversial move, Mr Miliband backed incinerators to burn rather than bury any waste that can not be recycled.

The financial reward schemes are most likely to be introduced in areas outside inner cities as they are likely to be hard to run in built-up districts with many flats. Ministers are determined to change people's recycling habits to tackle Britain's waste mountain and the reward and penalty schemes are seen as a key part of the new environmental drive.

"Householders would pay according to the amount of non-recyclable waste they threw away over the year," says the Government's waste strategy published by Mr Miliband today.

"It will also be important to consider means for preventing evasion of the incentive by disposing of waste in others' bins.

"Options include using pre-paid sacks or bins or offering residents lockable wheelie bins."

Councils wishing to opt for these recycling programmes would be expected to distribute at least five recycling bins, with food waste collected weekly.

Restrictions will be introduced aimed at stopping them using the schemes - which would have to be "revenue neutral" - to raise extra funds.

Town halls would also be expected to ensure that some groups are exempt or have some relief from the new recycling set-ups.

These could include households receiving council tax benefit, families with young children who tend to produce more waste due to nappies, and people who may struggle to adjust to the new requirements such as the elderly and disabled.

Ministers estimate that the average cost of waste collection in England is about £100 per household but that overseas schemes with penalties and incentives typically charge between £35 and £50. They will also warn that council tax bills could rise if people fail to go green as they are introducing sharply increasing land fill taxes under EU regulations.

Plans for a fortnightly collection of food waste "slop buckets" sparked anger and ministers are now making it clear the collection should be weekly.

England currently disposes of 63 per cent of its waste by landfill. Only Greece and Portugal, among the EU 15, send a greater share of municipal waste to landfill.

Environment minister Ben Bradshaw said: "We have looked at the positive incentive schemes that operate in virtually every other country. People who recycle more can be rewarded. People who can't be bothered pay a little more.

"But they all achieve higher recycling and lower waste and that cuts costs overall."