Watford Mayor Dorothy Thornhill pledged this week to keep weekly refuse collections.

Her comments come as a national debate rages about fortnightly rubbish collections.

Many councils, including neighbouring Hertsmere, have introduced alternate collections - picking up general waste one week and recycling the other.

However critics say this leaves rubbish rotting on the streets for longer, posing a health risk.

Mayor Thornhill, a keen recycler, said: "We have a recycling collection in Watford that is as good as it gets but many people are still struggling to keep their refuse down.

"Changing to fortnightly in our view would be detrimental to all the hard work we are doing ab out keeping the town clean. As black bags get dumped etc.

"The claims that this leads to higher recycling and lower costs have yet to be proven.

"We are among top performers on recycling. The real issue is that much of what we have in our black bins is not yet recyclable so that side of things needs to improve first.

"We will continue to encourage recycling positively clamp down firmly on those who contaminate our recycled waste whilst continuing a weekly black bin collection."

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