Byline: Victoria Allen

FAMILIES face having to wait four weeks between bin pick-ups as councils escalate their 'green' crusade.

For the first time in Scotland, one authority is considering cutting collections of some household rubbish to only once a month.

East Ayrshire Council's plan applies to bins containing 'residual waste' - such as food packaging, milk cartons and cat litter - as it strives to slash [pounds sterling]34million from its budget.

Householders will be given no less than seven different bins, and in a move that will leave many residents utterly confused, the council proposes to collect different bins on different days of the week, across a four-week timetable.

The East Ayrshire plan, to be introduced in 2015, is the most extreme example of a trend that has swept Scotland.

A Scottish Daily Mail investigation has found that Shetland is the only one of the country's 32 local authorities that collects non-recyclable rubbish from every household, every week, with no plans to cut back.

Every other authority has moved to fortnightly collections, or is considering doing so, with officials mounting a draconian crackdown on families who fail to fit two weeks' rubbish into one wheelie bin.

Those who leave out extra black sacks can face prosecution and a criminal record, while hundreds of [pounds sterling]50 fines have been handed out for bin 'offences'.

Campaigners have branded the new proposals a 'disgrace'.

Doretta Cocks, of the Campaign for Weekly Waste Collection, said: 'A normal family cannot produce only one bin full of rubbish a month or cope with just 12 collections a year.

'People pay their council tax and to have their rubbish taken away is what they expect in return. This is cost-cutting aimed at forcing people to recycle and it just won't work.' Officials at East Ayrshire Council want to bring in monthly collections so they can cut the landfill tax they pay, increase their recycling income and slash costs for binmen and vans. …