Households may have to wait two weeks to discard their unwanted paper and cans, if Kingston Council agree a new, money-saving waste management plan.

The borough's current weekly recycling collection could switch to alternate weeks for paper and tin, if the authority agrees a new deal with current contractors Veolia.

It would save the council £4.2m over seven years, and is currently the prefferred option as the authority looks to reprocure its waste management contract.

But Liberal Democrats have expressed concern at the proposals.

Councillor Hilary Gander, opposition lead for Environment, said: "For some residents, going to fortnightly collections will be a disincentive.

"I am concerned about storage too. The Tory scheme will introduce an additional wheelie bin to store paper and card for a fortnight, but glass, cans and plastics will still be in green boxes which will be overflowing unless you have storage space for even more green boxes.

"This will all be a big problem for smaller properties."

Lib Dem leader Liz Green said: "This is where Lib Dem policy differs greatly from Tory policy. Our environmental priorities to redirect rubbish from landfill and help residents recycle more saved money in landfill charges.

"We believe it is important Kingston Council continues to collect all recycling every week."

Councillor David Cunningham, lead member for environment and transport, said keeping Veolia would be the "sensible decision".

He said: "We thought we were getting a better deal by negotiating a deal with the existing contractor. There is no guarantee that we would be able to do anything better.

"We expect people to have strong views because it is affecting everyone.

"There is more weight in the paper but the tins have got a greater volume than paper so it could mean that people may need an extra box for the tins.

"There might be some exceptions and we might review a different scheme for individual roads if we need to."

If the contract is agreed, changes will not come into effect until January 2016.

Other options include an alternative waste management company or working on a joint service with the South West London Waste Authority, which includes Croydon, Sutton and Merton.

A decision will be made at the Policy and Finance Committe on Thursday, December 4.

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