A CONTROVERSIAL change to fortnightly rubbish collections throughout the area is set to get the go ahead from Waverley Borough Council.

At a special meeting on Monday night, councillors added their support to a move to change the way rubbish is collected in the borough, in a bid to meet government recycling targets.

If the measures are agreed by the council's decision making executive committee and ratified by full council, alternate weekly rubbish collection for household waste and recyclable materials could begin from as early as next spring.

And in another move that could prove to be unpopular with council tax payers, residents will be asked to fork out £45 each year if they want their garden waste removed on a fortnightly basis, or compost it themselves for nothing.

In a report to a special meeting of the environment and leisure, overview and scrutiny committee councillors agreed to the findings by a Special Interest Group, SIG, which was set the task of coming up with a scheme to improve the borough's existing recycling service. Its aim is to raise the current level of recycling from 22 per cent to meet the government target of 36 per cent.

An alternative weekly service would involve collecting household waste on one week, and recyclable rubbish the next. Existing recycling containers would be used for glass, paper and cans with an an additional container being supplied for plastics.

Agreeing to the proposals, chairman John Sandy said: "The experience in the rest of England in more than 100 authorities is that people are initially anxious about it. But when they get going and realise they are taking part in a recycling operation, they realise that their bin is probably less than half full."

And in a question and answer session Tony Moore, the chairman of a neighbouring district council environment committee, brushed aside many councillors fears of possible smells and maggot infestations that could come from the two week storage of residual waste.

Mr Moore, from Mole Valley District Council said his area had successfully implemented alternate weekly collections, assured councillors that "if the household waste like food is wrapped up in newspaper and sealed properly, then it will not attract maggots or flies".

Councillors debated five options for alternate weekly collections and after a long debate, lasting some three hours, they decided to opt for continuing the current kerbside sorting method of paper, tins, glass in existing containers with an additional container provided for plastics.

Garden waste can also be collected on a fortnightly basis using disposable or reusable bags but clarification on the number and the size of these bags will be reviewed by the executive committee.

In their report to the meeting, borough councillors were told by SIG of the need to change recycling performance and alternative methods were needed to attain future recycling targets.

The council is currently in negotiations with contractor Onyx Waste Environmental Services to take over the collections of rubbish after being impressed with its recycling success in East Hampshire where thanks to alternate weekly collections they now recycle 40 per cent of waste.

The scheme will be phased in starting from spring 2006 and Onyx has estimated a five per cent reduction in residual waste and an increase in the presentation of recyclable materials from Waverley's current 45 per cent to 80 per cent.

The council hopes to make and overall net annual saving on existing recycling costs but Mr Sandy is keen to reassure Waverley residents that the council is putting their interests first.

"At the forefront of our mind is the householder and our aim is to decrease the waste we throw away. This scheme will decrease it even further and we see 36 per cent as a minimum while we aspire to 50 per cent."