CONTROVERSIAL "pay as you throw" plans for refuse collection are being ignored by local authorities in the Westcountry amid fears "bin-wars" could break out.

Councils across the region say they have no plans to impose the charges on households, in spite of the Government's enthusiasm for the scheme.

In a blow for Labour's controversial scheme, Cornwall County Council warned it could prevent people from recycling, even though it is the reason it is being introduced, while Devon councils said they felt it is not necessary at the moment.

Adam Paynter, deputy leader of Cornwall County Council and executive member for environment and heritage, said the authority was not planning to introduce charges, saying implementing "pay as you throw" could even be a backwards step in the drive to encourage people to recycle.

"I would rather use the carrot than the stick approach," he said. "In a rural area like Cornwall I think it would increase fly tipping and people putting their rubbish in other people's bins."

He added: "At the moment we just do not have the technology to weigh people's bins. It would mean a big outlay to implement this scheme and it is not something we have plans for."

Currently, district councils in Cornwall collect refuse, while the county council disposes of it.

In April, the county's six district authorities will be abolished and replaced by a unitary authority, Cornwall One.

Mr Paynter said the new unitary would be looking at how to "bring together" the different rubbish collection schemes each district administers, but this would not be in the form of "pay as you throw".

A spokeswoman for Restormel Borough Council in Cornwall said that none of the district councils in the county were considering any sort of "pay as you throw" scheme'.

It was a similar picture in Devon, where councils were equally keen to distance themselves from it.

A spokesman for Devon County Council said a report had been prepared last year in which all of the districts were agreed that "pay as you throw" was not on the cards.

"It was decided that it was not something Devon County Council in partnership with the district councils would bring forward," she said.

A spokesman for North Devon Council, agreed, adding: "We do not intend to take part in the 'Pay as you throw' initiative for the foreseeable future. We have no need to at this stage.

"Figures show households in North Devon are recycling more than ever, with the council recycling over 43 per cent of all the waste it collects, exceeding the current government target."

At Torbay, a unitary authority, a spokesman said: "At this moment in time we are not considering this scheme." Another of the county's unitary authorities, Exeter City Council, agreed. "We have no plans to adopt the pay as you throw system, simply because we are happy with the system we already operate.

"Over the past few years people in Exeter have really embraced recycling and our rate of recycling is more than 35 per cent. We don't need a new system."

Under "pay as your throw" a microchip attached to bins sends details of its weight as it is being emptied and the address it was from to a collection lorry's on-board computer. Each bin may be weighed six times as it is lifted up and six times on the way down to ensure accuracy. The billing information for each address is then downloaded to a database each week and households are charged accordingly.

Last summer, South Norfolk District Council, which began the UK's first pilot scheme in 2005, dumped "pay as you throw". During the two years it ran, there was a 250 per cent increase in fly tipping in the area and the system was dogged by electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and data failures on bin lorries.

A further pilot scheme believed to be on the agenda later this year, introduced as part of the Climate Change Act, is supposed to involve up to five English councils. They can decide to reward residents for recycling or charge them for producing too much waste. But a survey of 100 local authorities found not a single one wanted to take part in a trial run.

However, it has emerged recently that the credit crunch has made waste paper virtually unsaleable and vast quantities are being stored in warehouses around the country. At the close of 2008, the market value of a ton of mixed recycled paper tumbled from £50 to less than £1.