FEARS over smelly rubbish being left to rot have been played down after a proposal to reduce bin collections was attacked.

Liberal Wyre Forest district councillor Rachel Lewis branded plans to make wheelie bin collections fortnightly instead of weekly - as part of a scheme to introduce kerbside recycling to the district - "a catastrophe in the making".

But council leader Liz Davies, of the ruling Health Concern group, said no decision would be taken on the way forward until at least December.

Recycling in Wyre Forest currently stands at 5.2 per cent but Government imposed targets require this to be nearly doubled in 2003-4, increasing again to 18 per cent and a continued improvement up to "best practice" of 30 per cent.

Mrs Lewis welcomed the proposed introduction of kerbside recycling but said reducing standard rubbish collections was "two steps back", with waste including food and disposable nappies rotting and smelling for a fortnight rather than a week.

She added: "To put it bluntly the proposal stinks.

"We are also worried about the prospect of smelly rotten uncollected refuse attracting vermin or being unceremoniously dumped."

However, Mrs Davies said: "We are required to meet Government targets and we need to start doing this in the next financial year, in April 2003."

Kerbside recycling, in addition to existing "bring sites", is the favoured option for meeting the targets.

It would cost £319,000 a year if collections were weekly, with sale of recyclable materials recouping £100,000.

Mrs Davies pointed out no Government funding was available to help implement such schemes and weekly kerbside collections would also require an increase in staff and vehicles.

She said alternating kerbside and standard rubbish collections every week would be a way of funding the scheme - but stressed it was only one of a number of options being considered and that advice would be sought from environmental health experts.

In defence of the plan, she pointed out nappies were supposed to be disposed of in sealed bags and that wheelie bins are specifically designed to be rodent-proof.

A fully costed service option for bringing in kerbside recycling is set to be unveiled in December.