Plans for 'pay-as-you-throw' trials

A maximum of five local authorities will be given permission to run trial projects to encourage people to recycle more by charging to collect waste.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said that under the pilots, residents who throw away the least amount of rubbish would receive a rebate and those throwing away the most could pay more.

Local authorities running the schemes would have to make sure that any money collected in the pilots would be repaid to residents overall and not used to raise revenue.

The success of the schemes would be assessed before making a decision on whether they will be introduced more widely, the Environment Department said.

Plans for what critics describe as a "bin tax" descended into chaos last month when Downing Street stepped in to block an announcement giving the idea a full green light. But proposals to allow pilot schemes formed part of the Climate Change Bill announced in the Queen's Speech, despite warnings - that they could encourage more fly-tipping.

Waste Minister Joan Ruddock said in a written Parliamentary statement: "The case for reducing the amount of waste we all produce is clear - it is damaging the environment and contributing to climate change... furthermore it makes no financial sense to keep dumping it into holes in the ground.

"We need to work out the best way to achieve this. Local authorities have asked for incentive schemes as one of their options."

She added: "But we realise that, while such schemes are common overseas, this is new ground for this country and that is why we want to pilot them first - to ensure the right checks and balances are in place for residents who participate,"

The pilot projects will require local authorities to provide a good kerbside recycling scheme, take account of the needs of "disadvantaged groups" and put a fly-tipping prevention scheme in place.