A RADICAL shake-up of Waverley's rubbish collection has been rubber stamped, which will force all residents to recycle from next year.

However, controversy surrounds the council's plan for collecting garden waste, which will see participating residents charged £40 a year.

Starting in the spring, alternate weekly collections (AWC) will be implemented, which will see recyclables collected one week and residual waste the following week.

It sees the borough follow in the footsteps of its East Hampshire neighbours which have seen a dramatic increase in recycling rates since they implemented a similar scheme.

At present, only 21 per cent of the borough's rubbish is recycled and only half of Waverley's households take part in the existing recycling scheme. The current system sees homes issued with a lidded box to store newspapers, paper and cans, and a basket for glass. Under the new AWC system agreed by Waverley Borough Council on Tuesday, a third box will be sent to all households to collect recyclable plastics. The 14-day wait between "traditional" rubbish collections will force residents to sort out their rubbish and recycle to cope, instead of merely throwing everything in the bin.

The council's portfolio holder for the environment, Victor Scrivens, said it was "absolutely crucial" that the borough's residents reduce the amount of rubbish being sent to landfill.

He told the meeting that because residents separated their recyclables, it ensured that only the correct items were sent for recycling. However the problem is that not enough people bother to do it, so a new approach is needed to spur them into action.

"It is a high-quality system. The only problem is that it is not used by enough people," he said. "This gives us the chance to leapfrog from where we are to where we want to be." James Mackie said he initially had reservations about the scheme, but had been won over. "It is clear that unless we have alternate weekly collections, recycling is optional, when in fact it is necessary," he said.

The plan was unanimously agreed, but councillors expressed some concerns.

Maurice Byham said, over the Christmas and holiday period, the collection cycle would be two days behind, meaning some households would have have a gap of 17 days, instead of 14 days, for one collections.

"There are concerns about smells as people will have to wait 17 days between collections," he said.

Carole Cockburn also expressed concerns about residents finding the space for a 240 litre rubbish bin and three recyclables containers and the effects of cluttering up the street.

However, councillors heard that a team of officers would be employed to help residents cope and look into their individual circumstances, to help them find space for the extra containers.

Although the council's Liberal Democrats, Conservatives and independents were united in approving the plans for the AWC, controversy surrounded the plans for the collection of garden waste.

Proposals were on the table to create a subscription service for those residents wishing to have their green waste collected and taken away for composting.

The self-financing scheme would see participants paying £40 a year for a 50-litre woven reusable garden sack which would be emptied every two weeks. The cost would be £20 a year to those on income-related benefits.

However, the Conservatives tabled a motion at the meeting for the Lib Dem-led council to have a major rethink of the issue.

Proposer Richard Gates said it was "just not on" to charge people £40 to collect their green waste and called for the plans to be re- examined to make it cheaper and encourage more people to take part.

He was backed by a number of Conservative councillors who said that many people are not able to compost their green waste because they either have small gardens or are elderly.

*A dedicated enquiry line has been set up for calls about the new refuse collection scheme. The number is 01483 523503.