The scheme was first announced in September 2011 to support councils to provide a weekly collection of household waste (see letsrecycle.com story).
And, giving evidence to the Communities and Local Government committee on Wednesday (December 14), Mr Pickles was asked by Heidi Alexander, Labour MP for Lewisham East, why his department was funding weekly collections of black bags when fortnightly collections of residual waste have been show to improve recycling.
Mr Pickles remarked that he was amazed that Ms Alexander appeared to have some insight into the scheme when details were not to be released until early January.
But, he said that procurement, biological waste separation and recycling incentives would be the three main areas of focus.
He said: We are basically trying to do three things. We are trying to increase procurement as I have already discussed. There are a lot of small authorities which collect waste which perhaps are not getting the best deal they could so we are encouraging them to put together. The second thing is we are prepared to pay capital upfront for some separation equipment the stuff which can separate biological waste and we are also interested in encouraging incentive schemes to recycle.
Out of kilter
Mr Pickles said that bin collections were an example of where as a political class we have got out of kilter with what the public want.
He said: I want to see increasing rates of recycling and try to go with the grain of what people are doing. I know I do sometimes talk in folksy and tabloid terms and I apologise for that but we want to ensure that there isnt some stinking carcass sticking around for a fortnight. I want to remove that biological waste for all kinds of reasons.
The Secretary of State added that those living in big houses with big gardens may not mind putting their food waste down the back of their garden but said that for less privileged people living in terraced houses, it was right next to them which was not a pleasant experience to have.
So all Im seeking to do for those authorities that want to do so, without sacrificing recycling, is to be able to deliver to the public what the public want and to make conditions that we dont force people into recycling by making their life unpleasant, he said.
Food
Ms Alexander then asked Mr Pickles if a local authority seeking to buy brown bins for food and garden waste collections would qualify under the scheme.
Mr Pickles said he wanted to wait to announce the scheme more generally to parliament before he could answer this but said I think you might be quite pleased with it.
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