GARDEN waste is set to be collected from 60,000 households across York as the council bids to increase recycling and avoid soaring landfill tax fines.

City of York Council has warned that such fines could reach £10 million by 2010 - equal to almost the entire environmental services budget - unless households create less rubbish and recycle more.

Coun Andrew Waller, executive member for environment and sustainability, said landfill tax was going up from £15 to £18 per tonne, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown envisaged the tax rising eventually to £35 per tonne.

Coun Waller said tremendous steps had been taken to improve the recycling rate in York since the Liberal Democrats had taken control, with the proportion of households getting a kerbside collection service increasing from 25 per cent to 84 per cent.

"In the next financial year, we shall increase this further, and improve the collection schemes in existing areas to include garden waste where appropriate."

More than £1 million was to be spent on new bins for garden waste, which were likely to be introduced in the autumn, probably starting off with a pilot scheme.

Asked whether the council would change collection methods so that ordinary waste was collected one week, and garden and other waste the other, deputy chief executive Laura McGillivray said it was one of a number of possible options. But there would be full consultation before any decision was taken and the authority was examining what had happened at authorities elsewhere to ensure mistakes were not repeated.

Coun Waller said the council would be working in partnership with voluntary organisations and environmental groups to maximise collections for recycling.

He said the authority would be looking at how new vehicles could be used to collect plastic bottles under the current kerbside scheme. And money would be invested in campaigns to persuade residents to minimise their waste. This investment makes sound financial and environmental sense. There is enormous support amongst residents to do more to reduce the amount of waste that we send to landfill."

Coun Waller warned that in a bid to save money, a late-night advice service for people disturbed by noisy neighbours could be scrapped, and the fee for a cremation at York Crematorium could increase by £25.

Updated: 10:29 Thursday, January 06, 2005