Doorstep recycling will be extended to Kingston’s flat dwellers next month, eight years after the council first pledged to bring the scheme to every household.

The borough’s recycling rate nearly doubled when the council introduced a controversial waste collection system in autumn 2008, and the council hopes its extension to flats will see Kingston residents recycle more than 50 per cent of their domestic waste, making the area a national leader.

Rob Dickson, director of environment and sustainability, said: “The service being provided is the optimum system. It is not a cheap, easy service that will have contamination. Other boroughs have gone for a cheaper and quicker service.”

In 2002, Liberal Democrat councillors pledged “we will work with others to ensure every household, wherever they live, receives the door-to-door recycling service”, but council officers said the delay was caused by the technical challenges of tailoring the service to each of 1,400 blocks of flats.

The £220,000 scheme will see 19,000 people in flats receive a green reusable bag and a brown food waste caddy to store their recyclables indoors, before they take them outside and separate them into colour coded bins, which the council said would be collected regularly and not allowed to overflow.

Councillor Bob Steed, executive member for the environment, said: “I have always been keen on flat recycling because a household in a flat can produce as much waste as a household in a house.”

The scheme will be introduced in four phases, and space constraints mean some flats will only be able to recycle paper, cardboard and food waste, which the council has prioritised due to legal targets. Flats with more room will also be able to recycle glass, cans, tins and plastic bottles.

About 2,500 to 3,000 residents who live in flats above shops, or other properties with insufficient space, will not be able to take part in the service.

Mr Dickson said: “If I was nervous of anything, and I’m not really because of the experience we have had, it’s whether residents will do it. There will be a number who do not. The second is that the system could be abused. If people put landfill in the recycling bin that will cost us money.”

Councillor Ken Smith, Conservative environment spokesman, said: “We agree flats need to be included in the waste scheme as soon as possible, to enable residents in flats to recycle.

“It remains to be seen if the system will be workable. The three-week delay on receptacles did not help and reflects badly on the council’s ability to achieve good results from forward planning. Let’s hope there are no more difficulties in the roll out of the programme.”