With the Sir Michael Lyons review on council funding being delayed until April, waste strategists will have to hold back a little longer to find out where we are heading. But many recycling officers believe variable charging is now looming on the horizon.

The Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee has said variable charging – sometimes known as 'pay as you throw' – would not be the "magic spanner" to fix every problem in recycling, but a report from letsrecycle.com shows others don’t necessarily agree.

Lee Marshall, the LARAC chairman himself, said it "…should be used in the most appropriate manner, alongside well-designed and implemented schemes coupled with good education and communication."

"The unstoppable juggernaut that is variable charging is slowly accelerating down the waste highway. It still has a long way to go before it hits maximum speed, but we can all see it looming on the horizon," he added.

A growing sense of urgency among officers about landfill targets is driving some of the thinking. Marshall said officers are now saying if planning applications for major recycling and waste recovery facilities have not been submitted by now, "you will miss the 2010 target" under Europe's Landfill Directive.

This, he suggested, meant there was a need for a "plan B" on household waste.

Mr Marshall, who is also a recycling officer at Powys county council, urged LARAC's 400-plus recycling officer members not to "get hung up" on issues like increased fly-tipping or administration difficulties with regard to variable charging.

He added, "There are certainly problems, but they can be overcome, especially if the energies expended in highlighting them are used to solve them."