Dartford Council has asked residents to make a rubbish decision on whether bins are collected every other week.

The council's contract on waste and recycling will soon expire, and households are being asked to take part in a consultation on whether the service stays the same or switches to alternate weeks.

Council Leader Jeremy Kite said: “Councils are under a lot of pressure from central government and even the EU to meet recycling targets but it can mean they end up delivering a service that’s not compatible with what local people want. Here in Dartford we take a simple, common sense view that since residents pay for the service they should be the ones to decide how it works.

"The Big Bin Vote sets out the pros and cons of various options and lets local council taxpayers have their say.“

It was revealed in September that thousands of homes were having their bin collections missed, and Dartford's recycling rates are lower than surrounding councils.

Cllr Kite said: "Our recycling rates are low compared to some other councils but that’s because in the past Dartford households have told us they attach greater value to other factors like convenience and frequency of collections. However, lots of families now say their non-recyclable bin is half-empty by collection day and we’ve come up with some alternatives that don’t mean lots of extra bins outside houses and still see food and smelly waste collected every week."

Residents will have three options: The service staying the same, switching to alternate weeks or adopting a new weekly food waste collection that will increase recycling, according to the council.

Councillor Jonathon Hawkes, Labour leader in Dartford, said previously that changing the bin services would be breaking a promise made to residents ahead of the last election.

He said: "The council's own reports make clear that moving to fortnightly collections will deliver the savings we need. If residents vote to keep weekly collections – will they then be faced with another hike in their council tax to pay for it?

"They made a promise to the people of Dartford at the last election to maintain weekly bin collections. They are now threatening to break that promise."

Cllr Kite has said that residents will not to be asked to consider any option that would lead to a confusing extra bins, unacceptable rises in council tax soaring or reduce residual waste collections to once-a-month as some councils have.

He said: "“We’ve been entirely open that some options are more expensive than others whilst some are more efficient and much better for recycling. Taxpayers are grown up people and understand that the costs of services will be met from their council tax bills so it’s only right that they have their say. We made a promise to ask people before making any decisions and that’s exactly what we are doing”.

The Big Bin Vote is now open and will run until December 31. Visit www.dartford.gov.uk to take part.

Option one: Basic alternate weekly collection, means:

- No specific service for food waste

- Recycling collected fortnightly

- Glass collected fortnightly

- Garden waste collected if you subscribe to our service

- Bulky items collected by arrangement for a charge

- Residual waste collected fortnightly

Option two: Premium alternate weekly:

- Food waste collected weekly

- Recycling collected fortnightly

- Glass collected fortnightly

- Garden waste collected if you subscribe to our service

- Bulky items collected by arrangement for a charge

- Residual waste collected fortnightly

Option three: No change