Bi-weekly refuse collections are helping to drive up the amount of waste that is sent to recycling centres in the north-east.
This is the view of the mayor's office in Hartlepool, which has launched a defence of its decision to scrap weekly bin collections, the Hartlepool Mail reports.
Communities secretary Eric Pickles has previously suggested that residents have a "basic right" to have their bins collected each week.
However, Hartlepool's deputy mayor, councillor Robbie Payne, said that stopping weekly refuse collection has played a key part in the success of its environmental programme.
He told the publication: "The proposals being floated by Mr Pickles can only be described as environmental vandalism.
"Since we introduced the alternate weekly collection system, recycling has increased significantly across the town and reduced the amount of rubbish we have to send to landfill sites."
Mr Pickles told the Daily Telegraph earlier this week that the coalition government will not allow any councils to introduce "backdoor bin charges" for the collection of refuse.
Typical Guttridge equipment used in the waste recycling industry includes:
