The Government today confirmed the next steps of its reforms to put an end to the ‘patchwork of different bin collections across England'.

Recycling minister Robbie Moore said: ‘We all want to do our bit to increase recycling and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill – but a patchwork of different bin collections across England means it can be hard to know what your council will accept.

‘Our plans for simpler recycling will end that confusion: ensuring that the same set of materials will be collected regardless of where you live.'

Controversially, councils will also be expected to collect residual household waste at least fortnightly and food waste weekly to ‘prevent smelly waste from building up outside homes.'

Environment spokesperson for the Local Government Association, Darren Rodwell, called for councils to be given ‘flexibility' over how frequently they collect waste.

Director of innovation and technical services at the Chartered Institution of Wastes Management, Lee Marshall, said the Government's stance on waste collection frequency was ‘baffling given the overwhelming evidence that exists about how restricting residual reduces costs and increases recycling'.

Marshall added: ‘That is a point of contention and a missed opportunity to give local authorities a real behaviour change tool that is shown to increase recycling levels.'