STOKE-ON-TRENT will be among the last areas in Staffordshire to switch to fortnightly recycling collections if it introduces the programme as planned this summer.

The city only introduced brown wheelie bins to most neighbourhoods last year. And these are still restricted to garden waste, when other authorities also use them for cardboard and food waste.

Staffordshire Moorlands is ranked among the top 10 authorities in Britain for recycling. It has achieved a rate of 60 per cent, compared with 30 per cent in Stoke-on-Trent, 43 per cent in Congleton, 39 per cent in Crewe and Nantwich and 26 per cent in Newcastle.