EVERY home in the borough should be sent a blue bin despite the controversial news that 14,000 of them have been bugged', according to members of a council scrutiny committee.

Councillor Dorothy Gunther, shadow spokesperson for Bury Council's environment and transport scrutiny committee, says more people need to be encouraged to recycle to ensure targets are met and avoid financial penalties. The Bury Times revealed last week that the bins, which collect glass and plastic, have been fitted with an electronic spy' device the size of a 2p piece to monitor which households are using the bins.

Coun Gunther said: "There are approximately 28,000 properties in this borough with no blue bin. That should be an absolute priority so people can recycle with the minimum of effort.

"We fully understand the penalties of not reaching our recycling targets both in environmental terms and financial terms because it could have a substantial impact on the levels of council tax we pay and on the level of council services we receive.

"If we have to pay penalties to the government then we have less money to spend on ourselves.

"We want to see blue bins go to every house in this borough. We feel that a number of people may get upset at this chip in the bin but it is important that everybody recycles - whether this is the way to do it is debatable, but we do have to reach targets."