Last October, the Times revealed that the council was looking into introducing a new chip and bin scheme in advance of a government directive on charging for domestic waste collection.

At the time, Anne Donaghy, Director of Environmental Services for Antrim council, said that council was waiting on instruction from central goverment to charge domestic users by paying per weight and that it was a case of not if, but when.

"It's going to happen; it's coming from central government and is not a council decision. We are waiting on direction from central government but would like to help people to manage their waste now," Ms Donaghy said.

She added: "Our idea is to have everything in place for it happening. Our aim is to let households see what weight is in their bin and what they would be charged if charging was in place so they can start reducing their black bin use and so they'll be paying as little as possible.

"It's good for the environment; good for their pocket and good for our pocket."

However, it is understood a lack of money, along with the Government back-tracking on introducing charges for waste, has resulted in Antrim council rejecting the idea.

At a council meeting last week, councillors had been discussing the issue of bins being collected in local developments with ‘unadopted roads’ which prompted Councillor John Smyth to ask if the bin chipping plan had taken any steps forward.

Ms Donaghy informed him: “We would not be going forward with bin chipping; it’s not the law and it’s not the way forward at this time.”