KENNET District Council is facing another PR disaster in the wake of the chip in the bin fiasco by looking to charge for the recycling of cardboard and plastic.

That was the message delivered at a meeting of Kennet's community development executive committee, when a plan to charge residents for supplying a special bin for cardboard and plastic was mooted.

Mark Smith, Kennet's director of environment and leisure services, told the meeting that the council is under pressure from its council tax payers to provide facilities to recycle cardboard and plastic.

But the council's current waste minimisation and recycling strategy precluded officers from offering the service, unless it paid for itself.

He said the scheme would operate on a similar basis to the current garden waste collection scheme, with householders paying a similar amount, around £26 a bin, which would be emptied either each fortnight or each month.

But it would only deal with cardboard and plastic and waste collectors would be required to empty the bins on a Saturday so as not to affect other collections.

Coun Andrew Connolly said: "I oppose charging for a service we should already be providing free."

Coun Nick Fogg said it would be reprehensible to introduce a charge for a recycling service. "It would be a minor PR disaster in the wake of the chips in the bins story," he said.

Coun Catherine Callow said she would be interested to see how many people would respond by saying they wanted to be charged for plastic and cardboard recycling.

But councillors granted officers delegated authority to investigate the feasibility of a scheme.

Devizes town councillor Noel Woolrych said it was wrong to charge for recycling anything.

He said people should be encouraged to recycle, and the council should be doing everything to discourage people from dumping rubbish He said: "In New Zealand you only get charged for what you throw away, not what you recycle.

"It's amazing what people will recycle when it hits them in the pocket.

"Wiltshire has no facilities for recycling plastic and it involves transporting a lot of air to Gloucestershire to get rid of it."