Government deal means councils will restore weekly bin days

The Government is to announce a deal under which councils will be offered financial incentives to collect household rubbish every week.

A similar plan using government grants was successfully introduced to encourage local authorities to freeze council tax this year.

The policy is expected to be announced as the centrepiece of a review of waste policy being conducted by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra).

A source close to the review said the funding plans for councils to restore weekly bin collections – estimated to be about £100 million a year – had been agreed and the scheme will be unveiled within the next fortnight.

More than half of councils are thought to have abandoned weekly bin collections over the past few years, depriving more than 18 million people of the service.

Labour ministers effectively ordered local authorities to scale back collections to once a fortnight, in an attempt to force households to do more recycling.

The scheme has backfired and led to an increase in rat and insect infestations along with a rise in fly-tipping.

The fortnightly bin rounds are unpopular with residents and have become a contentious issue at local elections.

Last year, Eric Pickles, the Local Government Secretary, ordered the Audit Commission to scrap guidance to councils which he said allowed them to reduce collections. The move is understood to have had little impact and ministers want to go further.

The return to weekly bin rounds is being masterminded by Caroline Spelman, the Environment Secretary, and Mr Pickles.

It is thought to have been opposed initially by some officials in Mrs Spelman’s department who are concerned it may undermine legal requirements to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfills.

The Defra waste review is expected to back schemes being introduced to reward people who recycle more. Private companies – which can make money from recycling because of the high costs of raw materials – may be encouraged to take a more active role in the system.

A source close to the Defra review said: “Restoring weekly bin collections was something that the Prime Minister has personally said is essential.

''We have now worked out the detail on how this is financially possible. There are other ways to improve recycling rates.”

In opposition, David Cameron described the move to fortnightly collections as causing “huge problems”.

“You know, there is absolutely nothing green about allowing peoples’ rubbish to rot in the streets, having an increase in rats, pests and smell,” he said. “It is a disaster when you have got an increase in fly-tipping all over the country.”

The World Health Organisation recommends that rubbish should be collected weekly in temperate climates such as Britain's.

The National Pest Technicians’ Association has also warned that fortnightly services were one factor behind the rise in rat infestations. Since 1999, infestations have risen by up to 70 per cent during the summer.

Britain has one of the worst recycling records in Europe and councils face large European Union fines if they do not reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills.

Household waste policy has become one of the most controversial areas facing the Government – both centrally and locally.

Mr Pickles, the Cabinet minister in charge of local authorities, has an increasingly acrimonious relationship with some councils, and has repeatedly attempted to order them to resume weekly collections.

It is understood that the new agreement will be modelled on the scheme introduced by the Government to freeze council tax.

Every local authority in England agreed the measure in return for being allowed to share in a £650 million grant pot.