Environment Secretary Steve Reed said he would not be happy with a monthly bin collection service as a backlash grew against some councils considering the move. He also suggested that residents in Bristol could vote out the Green-led council if they disagreed with less frequent bin collections. The Taxpayers’ Alliance said more than one in ten councils in the UK, 42, are considering reducing one or more bin collection services.

It added that Bristol, Carmarthenshire and East Ayrshire are considering changing residual waste collection to once every four weeks. While North Ayrshire, Dundee, Angus and East Ayrshire are considering changing recycling collections to once every four weeks, according to the report which said five million people across the country could see reductions in services. Thousands of people have signed a petition against the move being mooted by the Bristol local authority.

Labour has vowed to end the “Wild West” of bin collections, with guidance that councils should provide up to four bins. Asked on ITV’s Good Morning Britain about the report that Bristol, Carmarthenshire and East Ayrshire are considering changing black bin collection to monthly, Mr Reed said: “I wouldn’t be happy if it was the council where I lived which was doing that. “But the point of local democracy is that councils will take their own decisions about how frequently they want to collect the bins.

“I’m aware that in Bristol the Green-led council there has decided to move to monthly bin collections. “It’s for people living in Bristol to pronounce on what they think of their council’s decision there. “They will get a vote at a local election and they can change the make-up of their council if that is what they want to do. “I don’t think it’s in line with strong support for local democracy for the Secretary of State in Whitehall to tell every single council how or when to colled their bins.

“I hope they will take sensible decision.”. He added: “We are reducing the number of bins that they need to get rid of their waste. “That should make it easier for them to save money and make sure that frequent bin collections are maintained. “That is what I would want them to do,” he stressed, with many councils having dire financial positions. Under the plan being considered by Bristol, it could become the first major city in England to collect black waste bins every four weeks.

The Green Party-led authority has started a public consultation on potential changes to three-weekly or four-weekly collections. The council’s deputy leader, Heather Mack, said the switch to less frequent collections would reduce the cost and “the impact on the environment”. But the move is being opposed by opposition councillors and some local residents. Bristol has the best recycling rate among “core cities” in England, with nearly half of household waste being recycled.