The collections are currently carried out in the Parkside area of Stafford and in Eccleshall and it was originally planned that the scheme would be extended out across the borough.

But Stafford Borough Council has now announced it does not plan to roll out fortnightly collections across the borough until a new contract has been agreed, which could take up to 18 months.

This is despite the fact that the amount of waste created by Stafford households is on the up, something that could mean future tax increases for townsfolk.

Figures released by the council this week showed that the amount of waste created per person in the town is steadily rising.

They show that in the three-month period between the end of March and the end of June this year each person created 129 kg of waste – up from 105 kg in the previous three-month period.

The figures have been flagged up as an area of concern to be discussed by the council later this month, and the council claims action plans have been submitted to deal with the problem, along with a reduction in recycling rates.

Stafford Borough Council said it uses action plans as a way of recording whether services are performing as well as they are expected to and is tackling the issue.

Two plans have been submitted by the head of environmental and health services, Bob Ball, due to the performance indicators for recycling falling below average.

Mr Ball said: “To the quarter ending June 2006, the amount of dry recyclable tonnage of waste Stafford Borough Council collected has actually increased by 33 per cent, when compared to the performance over the last four years.

“We collected 1,533 tonnes of dry recycled waste, set against a target of 1,250 tonnes. However, since 2004/05 Stafford Borough Council has also collected garden waste,” he added.

Report by Sally Walmsley