A NEW recycling scheme aimed at making Rochford District Council one of the greenest in Essex has been postponed indefinitely, it has been revealed.

Earlier this year, the district council trumpeted its new agreement with waste firm, Sita, which included plans to give every household three wheelie bins.

One was to be used for kitchen and garden waste and was to be emptied weekly and the other two were for recyclables and non-recyclables, collected on alternate weeks.

However, the changes have now been put on hold for the foreseeable future and there is no fixed date for when they will be brought into operation.

At the moment, the existing recycling arrangements for bottles, cans and paper will continue and residents will also be able to retain their current blue box for bottles and cans.

Although the new contractors Sita started work at the beginning of April, arrangements for the changes are far from complete, Rochford District Council said.

Council officials put the changes on hold until the results of a pilot scheme by Sita in Warwick are known.

Council chief executive Paul Warren said: "We would rather that any teething problems are identified there and not in the Rochford district.

"There is also the logistics of delivering some 70,000 new bins to properties across the district. This in itself will take some considerable time to be accomplished successfully."

He added the delay would let the new contractors settle in fully in the district and get adjusted to the rounds.

However, one council insider said he had heard there had also been friction between existing and new members of staff.

One change which Sita has made is to introduce bank holiday collections, which began on Monday.

It is one of only a few refuse collection companies where staff work on bank holidays.

Resident Alan Berman, 43, of Rayleigh, said there had been confusion about the start of the scheme.

He said: "We had the first announcements of this scheme then nothing happened. Now we are told nothing is happening yet. It's all somewhat confusing."