It's crunch time for the twin wheelie bin project in Southampton. Will the scheme be moved to a weekly collection in the face of increasing controversy?

STANDING just 4ft tall, the humble wheelie bin has created a storm of controversy across our communities.

When Southampton City Council proposed to replace weekly rubbish collections with a fortnightly alternate collection of rubbish and recycling waste, many residents were outraged.

They didn't want one bin for household waste and another for recycling.

So far the scheme is in place in a third of the city, but its expansion was suspended in February pending a MORI poll of residents to assess its success so far.

Today representatives from the marketing organisation will attend a meeting of the council's Environment and Transport Scrutiny Panel to present a draft questionnaire which will be issued to 500 people who currently have bins.

Why the poll? It's because some councillors have voiced concerns about whether the rubbish should be collected on a weekly or fortnightly basis.

They state general refuse left for a fortnight will attract vermin and smells.

The Daily Echo has also urged the council to change its mind and retain a once a week collection of household waste as well as a separate collection of recyclable waste.

But other councillors dismiss weekly rubbish collections since national figures show they result in recycling rates being down by a minimum of four per cent.

Now the whole issue is up in the air while MORI conducts its survey and final decisions are made on how regular general waste collections should be.

Meanwhile, an exclusive poll of 400 Southampton residents carried out this week by the Daily Echo, shows that nearly half of residents are still opposed to the scheme.

We surveyed 200 people in Bassett who already have the scheme and 200 people in Thornhill who are scheduled to have the scheme next.

In Bassett, 66 per cent of the people surveyed were happy with the scheme.

But of the 34 per cent who weren't happy with the fortnightly collection, their main concerns were about the hygiene and storage of excess rubbish when the bins were full.

Liberal Democrat ward councillor Liz Mizon, who has praised the people of Bassett, has urged residents to wrap up waste to prevent unwelcome smells.

But in Thornhill, one of the areas where the bins could be introduced by February next year, a staggering 63 per cent of residents surveyed were not happy about receiving the bins in the Daily Echo poll.

The issues concerning residents were again hygiene, storage, the risk of vandalism and the time taken to sort through the rubbish.

Bitterne ward councillor Labour's Matthew Stevens said: "Although the Labour group is in favour of recycling, we want there to be a weekly rubbish collection.

"The main issue in this area is with all the flats and maisonettes. There will be a build-up of bins which could cause a vermin and smell issue.

"The residents do want to have the opportunity to recycle but they don't want to be surrounded by poor hygiene because of the rubbish building up.

"In areas such as Thornhill, which has a high population density, a weekly collection of rubbish is the way forward."

The City Council would not be specific about the outcome if the MORI poll reveals a majority in favour of weekly refuse collections.

The council would not reveal whether or not it would heed public opinion but instead issued the following statement: "We are hoping that the MORI poll will give us a wide range of information which we will consider in deciding the future of how we deliver waste collection across the city.

The decision about the frequency of waste collection will be considered in due course by full council."