RECYCLING bosses are to be quizzed as part of an inquiry into the controversial decision to scrap fortnightly collections of glass, cans and garden waste.

Representatives from all the organisations involved in the decision will be questioned by members of Burnley Council's environment scrutiny committee.

But the committee chairman, Coun Charles Bullas, stressed the inquiry would not be a "witch hunt".

In the hot seat at the meeting, at Burnley Town Hall on Wednesday, will be Sarah Schofield, head of streetscene for the borough council; Coun Linda Gauton, the cabinet member for public protection; Clare Atkinson, Lancashire County Council's waste minimisation team leader; and Gary Bowles, general manager for Biffa.

The meeting will be held in two parts - public and a private session.

Sarah Schofield will start the public session by giving a schedule of how events unfolded. It will set out how the executive committee decided to stop collections of glass and cans last month and to cease the green waste collection at the end of October.

It will be followed by general questions to her and Coun Gauton from the committee.

Both Biffa and the county council will be given the opportunity to make any general statements about the case before more detailed discussions about the financial and contractual issues that have led to the problems are held behind closed doors.

Coun Bullas, chairman of the environment scrutiny committee, said: "This is not a witch hunt, but we want to know why we have had to postpone these recycling schemes and why the decision to do this was taken at the 11th hour. The main players are Biffa, Lancashire County Council and our own officers.

"To an extent, it also involves our executive committee, which should have seen this coming.

"What upsets me most is that we have let down the people of Burnley who had responded to the call to recycle their waste.

"We are now back to the drawing board and we must learn from what has happened and find the funding to resurrect these services.

"It has been suggested that this will not happen until next year, but that is not good enough. I will be asking the committee to set up a working group to concentrate on the future of recycling services in the borough."