Castle Point Council has been criticised for not providing household recycling collections of plastics.

Dave Blackwell, leader of the Canvey Indepen-dent Party, said many householders were keen to recycle their waste, but were put off by a lack of doorstep collections.

He said: "A large percentage of councils are now recycling plastic bottles, but we aren't doing this because the council bases its recycling on weight and how much it will save per tonne.

"We do kerbside collections for glass, but plastics don't weigh much, so they don't save much. But I believe we must encourage recycling as much as possible, regardless of cost."

The Government has called for councils in England and Wales to provide every home with doorstep recycling.

However, it does not demand this is done until 2010.

Many authorities do not pick up plastics because they say a market cannot be found for it.

But plastics recycling body Recoup says householders should urge their councils to try harder because waste reprocessors were crying out for more material.

Recoup spokeswoman Niki Audsley said: "There is a huge demand for domestic plastics."

Ray Howard, chairman of the environment committee and Thames Gateway waste management advisory board chairman, said: "We are waiting for a final report from Essex County Council, which looks into recycling services.

"In the next few weeks, we will be looking into its findings and reporting them to our environment committee.

"We see this as an important matter and believe we must find a policy that both works with the problem and is affordable for our residents."