RESIDENTS of Monmouthshire have rubbished proposed changes to waste collection by Monmouthshire County Council (MCC).

Hundreds of locals have come out fighting online after the council announced its intention to limit the amount of rubbish going to landfill by swapping black bags for clear ones, charging for garden waste and aiming to collect only two bags from each household per fortnight.

816 people have signed an e-petition calling for the council to bin the plans. The petition entitled 'Stop Monmouthshire County Council Refuse Changes', has been created by an 'Aaron R'. He has posted: "Monmouthshire County Council want to change our refuse collections so we have clear refuse bags, instead of black bags so they can 'monitor' how much we are recycling.

"They are also limiting us to only putting out one bag of refuse per week, that's only two per fortnightly collection.

"Would you be happy putting sanitary towels or condoms in the clear bags? Imagine them in clear bags being out on the street, potentially with children walking past. Not a pretty site.

"Monmouthshire County Council have also failed to think of the amount of fly-tipping that is going to happen when the new rules come in."

51 people have joined a facebook action group entitled 'Monmouthshire residents against changes to waste collection'.

Among the people who have commented is Chepstow Town Councillor Dale Rooke. He said: "Though I understand the need to recycle more, I don't relish looking at dirty nappies and the like as I walk down the street.

"The clear bags are clearly a way of policing what you put into general waste. What happens if your bag contains something that shouldn't be there? Tear the bag open and remove the offending item, leaving it on the kerbside? Surely that would be fly-tipping?"

85 per cent of those who completed our reader's poll on the Beacon website over the last week also voted 'no' to our question: Do you welcome the planned changes to waste collection?

The county council was forced to post a new blog on its Wordpress account after its original posting explaining the changes, was faced with with about 50 angry comments.

The latest blog posting from MCC says: "Much of what you told us was that you are against these changes, but we believe they are being made for the right reasons.

"We understand the concerns people have voiced about privacy so we are going to provide bags of a similar grade and opacity to the red and purple recycling bags but without any colour pigment (the bags appear silver in finish without colour pigmentation).

"We will not be leaving rubbish on the streets but after a reasonable settling in period we will visit people who are struggling to meet the two bag limit per fortnight limit. In exceptional circumstances – for instance if you have many people in your household – people may be allowed to use more than two bags."

For the full blog from MCC, visit: monmouthshirecc.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/info-on-waste-bags-and-help-to-get-used-to-new-waste-arrangements/