BURNLEY council will not meet Government targets for recycling after kerb-side schemes for collecting glass, cans and garden waste are binned.

Targets of 18 per cent of household waste being recycled by 2005/06 had expected to be met before the collapse of the schemes, but now less than 10 per cent is likely to be achieved.

The blue box collections of glass and cans will stop at the end of the month and the brown wheelie bin collections of garden waste look set to come to an end later in the summer because of a funding crisis.

Both schemes were initially funded through a Government grant but Burnley Council had been working with Lancashire County Council on a long-term plan for recycling and hoped to enter a cost sharing agreement.

The council was advised that the best way forward was work out a deal with its refuse collection contractor, Biffa Waste Services.

Biffa initially said a change to fortnightly collection of rubbish would provide a 25 per cent reduction in the council's refuse collection bill, but when councillors asked for a formal quote from the firm the figures that came back increased the cost by 10 per cent making the recycling scheme too expensive.

Liberal Democrats leader Coun Gordon Birtwistle said: "This is a shambles. When these schemes were launched two years ago we warned Labour that long-term funding was needed but they ignored those warnings and have been left with egg on their face."