Redbridge Council has proposed a halt to deliveries of replacement recycling bins and green waste bins.

Instead, the authority may now opt for people to come and collect replacement bins from council buildings throughout the borough.

Cllr Michael Duffell, Conservative councillor for South Woodford, took to Twitter to vent his frustrations at the idea.

He said: “It turns out Redbridge Council are planning to stop delivering recycling boxes and garden waste bags to residents.

“Makes a mockery of its 50 per cent recycling target. We should be encouraging recycling, not making it harder. This is a shambolic administration.”

The suggestion is part of the council's budget proposals in an attempt to save money, but is yet to be fully implemented.

Cllr Linda Huggett, Conservative group leader, shared Cllr Duffell’s concerns and said: “We all know the mess left by the council on rubbish collection day with boxes and bags strewn all over the street, being mixed up and going missing. The proposals punish our residents.

“This seems like a way for the council to hide the fact that due to financial mismanagement they are unable to procure the boxes. This is a cynical way to deter residents from recycling.”

Cllr Huggett labelled the borough’s recycling rates as “shameful” and “amongst the worst in the country” and has urged the authority to look again at the proposals.

But the council has reassured people its plans will not impact waste collection services.

Cllr Jas Athwal, council leader, explained the borough has lost £166million of its funding government through cuts and that opting not to pay for replacement boxes was an efficient way of saving the borough money.

He said: “The first and biggest priority of the council is our streets, to help achieve this we are investing an extra £300,000 in street cleansing, continuing the free garden waste collection service and keeping our waste collection weekly. This is at a time when most councils have moved to fortnightly.

“What is being referred to in this tweet is a proposal for residents to pick up a free replacement recycling box or green garden waste bag from a local council building – not a reduction in the service.

“This is because we are getting a huge and increasing number of requests for replacements adding up to 300 a week or 15,000 a year.

“We think our residents would prefer we put this time and money towards delivering a cleaner borough instead of delivering boxes.”