If I was asked to introduce a system of household waste collection that ticked all the boxes, and emptied the bins regularly, it would look like this: There would be a collection every week, though not the same each week, and it wouldn't allow smelly waste to build up. It would involve householders taking more responsibility for the materials that they purchase and then throw out, and above all it would maximise the amount of waste that can be recycled. Ideally, the recycled waste would be sorted at the kerbside, to provide high-quality material, such as glass separated by colour.

The only significant test for such a system would be that it keeps the volume of carbon dioxide produced to a minimum, by reducing the number of miles covered by the refuse wagons, the production of methane from rotting food waste, and by increasing the re-use of materials through recycling.

It could be a really effective system like the ones they have in many other political areas, such as Flanders and California, where householders have to pay for the rubbish that is unsorted and landfilled, while all the separated and recyclable material is taken away at no cost, resulting in recycling rates of more than 70 percent. Often the food waste is collected separately, and weekly, to produce methane, and then electricity from anaerobic digesters.

However, this might be a step too far for the UK at the moment, where we are struggling to move on from the dogmatic political promise of weekly collections of unsorted material.

Government minister Eric Pickles, once of this parish, doesn't always get it right, and a prime example is his attitude to waste collection. He seems to think collecting unsorted household waste once a week is a basic human right. He’s wrong.

He is determined that councils will empty the unsorted bins every week, and he is prepared to spend millions of pounds to support an inefficient and patronising system that misses the opportunity to encourage householders to take real responsibility.

While the £4 million-plus coming to Bradford will allow the Council to double recycling collections in due course, from once a month to every fortnight, it will do little to raise the percentage collected, as householders will still be able to fill their bins with unsorted waste each week.

It’s significant that very few of the alternate weekly collecting councils – those with rubbish one week, and recycling the next, plus separate weekly food waste collections – have been seduced by the Pickles bribe. They know that nine out of the ten top recycling councils use this method and that, above all, it produces less waste and a minimum of CO2.