WHEELIE bins fitted with microchips are not put there to spy on people, say waste chiefs.

Conservative leaders fear the microchips will allow councils to levy a stealth tax on home owners as they battle to meet European Union recycling targets.

But waste managers at Worcester City Council say the microchips will make their lives far easier, once they are activated, allowing them to keep track of rubbish, stop bins being stolen, increase the rate of recycling and monitor the volume of rubbish.

Malcolm Cox, operations manager at Worcester City Council, said the micro-chips, which are already fitted to two-thirds of bins in the city, are not intrusive but will show which homes are recycling.

"The microchips do not tell you what is in each bin. It's not a video or CCTV. There's no intrusion. It has made our lives easier and will to a great extent in future," he said.

"We can target areas that don't recycle and it also gives us the average weight collected from certain households."

Eric Pickles, Shadow Minister for Local Govern-ment, says he fears the chips will be fitted to bins with a view to levying new taxes.

His remarks follow the publication of the English Waste Strategy by Environ-ment Secretary David Miliband yesterday.

Other proposals laid out in the report include cash rewards for recycling, a clamp-down on junk mail, excess packaging and plastic shopping bags.

Mr Cox said that although there were no plans as yet to introduce taxes on rubbish the technology was there to allow that to happen in future now the microchips were in place.

"We have no intention of bringing it in unless we're forced to," he said. "People are calling it a spy in the bin but it doesn't do any spying. It's a useful tool and will help us meet our EU targets."

Mr Cox said Worcester recycled 18 per cent of waste before wheelie bins, but that had now risen to 30 per cent.

He expects the target to rise to 50 per cent.

The chips can tell the council the weight of rubbish, when it was collected and can even detect when the bin is in the wrong place or stolen as each bin is registered to a house.