AN angry resident has threatened to dump his rubbish on the pavement in a row over refuse collection.

Bill Hudson, 49, of Sawley Avenue, Simonstone, has fallen foul of a new £600,000 refuse collection system implemented by Ribble Valley Council.

The council is asking 12,000 householders to place their domestic waste in special black plastic sacks inside their bins and then place the full bags on the kerbside -- alongside a green bag for garden waste.

The council has bought four tailor-made vehicles with government cash, which are split to allow collection of the green waste from gardened properties for composting, at the same time as domestic waste.

But Bill Hudson, a production journalist at a national newspaper, has accused the council of penny-pinching by refusing to collect domestic waste unless he leaves it on the kerb.

He said: "I have always left my bin outside my garage and my driveway is only the length of a car, so it's not as if the refuse collectors have far to walk. My refuse wasn't collected this morning, so I have put it on the pavement and asked the council to come back for it.

"I work shifts, so am I supposed to put my refuse on the kerbside the night before? If the council wants refuse putting on the roadside, it should provide wheelie bins.

"It's scandalous that they left it for the sake of a few yards. If they don't collect it, I will withhold my council tax and seek legal advice."

But the council's chief engineer Graham Jagger, said the new system was implemented to stop the authority's £800,000 refuse collection bill from doubling.

"We now collect green waste as well as household refuse from gardened properties. The Government has told us we have to do this in order to meet recycling targets.

"We are collecting the different refuse at the same time in split vehicles, as two separate collections would double the cost. This is the only way we can implement the new system without a significant increase in council tax.

"We hand-delivered a letter and green plastic sacks to the properties in question in the run-up to the collection changes.

"We have already collected 58 tonnes of green waste and 98 per cent of people have adapted to the new system very well."

Council leader Chris Holtom, added: "The tonnage of garden waste collected so far is quite exceptional and very encouraging.

"I hope householders will understand we had to make some hard decisions to make the scheme cost-effective."

More than £2million Government cash is being ploughed into schemes which will bring green waste collections to more than 100,000 households across Lancashire this year.

The cash is being handed out by the Lancashire Waste Partnership, which wants to see 40 per cent of the county's rubbish recycled by 2005 and 56 per cent by 2015.

From 2005, the Government aims to impose extra taxes on councils dumping recyclable waste in landfill.