AN eco-friendly school criticised Tendring Council for refusing to collect its tins and plastics.

Elmstead Primary School is proud of its green credentials, which include planting hedges, growing food and recycling.

Council contractors, Veolia, previously picked up all the school’s recyclable rubbish. But a new scheme has ended some collections, and Veolia will now only collect paper and cardboard.

Clive Middleditch, head of the 216-pupil school in Holly Way, Elmstead Market, says the school will keep its recyclables until the council agrees to collect them. He said: “We encourage the children and tell them every little helps. They are really good at recycling and take a pride in it.

“It seems unfair we have made all this effort and now the council is not bothering with it.’’ Elmstead has won a green flag from Keep Britain Tidy. Mr Middleditch, headteacher for ten years, said: “The children have been betrayed.

“The council encouraged us to recycle with free bins and so on, and now it is taking a big step backwards.

“This issue will become a whole-school mission.”

The council has started a new waste collection scheme from residential properties.

It says the weekly food waste collections, fortnightly collections of paper, platics, bottles and cans and weekly black bag collections will save £450,000-a-year and recycle more waste.

Nick Turner, councillor for the environment, said schools were non-domestic premises and, like businesses, were responsible for their own waste and recycling arrangements.

He said: “The collection of plastic and cans over the past few years has always been a discretionary activity, which we carried out free as a gesture of goodwill.

“However, we must be even-handed and fair.

“In these times of austerity, we must all do our bit and I encourage schools to come up with innovative ways to recycle.”

Mr Turner said 90 per cent of recyclable materials from schools was paper and card and the council would continue to collect it under the new scheme.