TALKS on the future of waste collection and recycling in Burnley are set to start in a bid to solve the borough's waste problems, council bosses have revealed.

Current firm Biffa's contract runs out in March 2007 and preparations to re-tender the service will begin this March, according to a report to Burnley full council tonight.

Last year the borough's kerb-side recycling schemes for glass, cans and garden waste were binned due to a funding crisis.

The blue box collections of glass and cans were axed after a mix-up over the funding.

The scrapping of the schemes followed a financial bust-up with refuse collectors Biffa which raised the cost of providing the service by at least 10 per cent, despite an earlier indication that costs would drop by 25 per cent.

A working group of councillors is now looking at ways the recycling services can be re-introduced as soon as possible.

The group will oversee liaisons with Biffa to see if the council can afford to bring the schemes back.

But council chiefs are also set to start the process that could see a new firm contracted to deal with the area's waste and recycling when Biffa's contract runs out.

A top-level probe held into the council's decision to bin the fortnightly collections last year concluded one of the main reasons for the suspension was confusion between Biffa and the council over the quoted cost of the contract.

The council said it was told by Biffa it could save 25 per cent by switching to a fortnightly refuse collection, cash which could have paid for recycling.

But Biffa claimed the savings referred to savings on resources not costs. The firm has agreed to look at its prices again.