RESIDENTS' groups in Fareham are turning their noses up at proposals to wheel in fortnightly rubbish collections.

They fear household waste being collected every two weeks would lead to bad stenches and an increase in flies.

People in the town are being warned they face changes to collections if they fail to start recycling more to meet government targets.

Kenneth Prangnell, chairman of the Warsash Residents' Association, said: "I don't think collections of kitchen waste every two weeks would be a good idea. It would cause a smell.

"It is going to attract flies and flies spread diseases."

"There must be some other way to push people into recycling everything that is recyclable.

"There's got to be a heavy programme of encouraging and coercing people into it."

Currently household rubbish is collected every week and recyclables every fortnight.

As reported in yesterday's Daily Echo, council leaders said they would be forced into changes if recycling figures do not improve and they will now launch an intensive education programme.

Households must double their recycling levels to help the borough meet a strict government-set target of 40 per cent by 2005/6, otherwise the council would face tough financial penalties.

Mike Pengelly, chairman of the Sarisbury Residents' Association, said: "All of the information that we have had from the council is that it has one of the highest recycling rates in the country.

"But we are getting punished for that as the government has set such a high target to get even better.

"Obviously it always comes down to money.

"These days councils are always trying to find ways to make sure they don't need to increase the council tax by too much."

Council leader Councillor Sean Woodward insisted he was keen to keep rubbish collections as they were because residents were pleased with the system.

He added: "It's a challenge and we will have to see whether people will rise to that challenge or not.

"The council would rather not have to go to alternate weekly collections but people simply need to put their rubbish in the right bins."

The council will monitor whether households' recycling efforts improve over the next three months before deciding whether to change collections.