Household bin fines are finally consigned to scrapheap However, the issue then became ensnared in Whitehall with officials in Mrs Spelman's Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Mr Pickles's Department for Communities and Local Government arguing over a range of issues including fines and weekly rubbish collections. Under the current system councils can issue fixed penalty notices of up to £110 or move to start criminal convictions which can see fines of up to £1,000 imposed. In the interim period, before the law is changed, councils are to be told to reduce the fixed penalty fines from their current level of £75 to £110 to a new level of between £60 and £80, with a discounted rate of £40 for early payment. Lord Taylor, the waste and recycling minister, is writing to councils asking them to put the transitional arrangements into place - although they cannot be forced to make changes until the law is altered. A consultation process will begin this week ahead of new laws under which fines will only be permitted if a council can prove that a household is causing 'harm to local amenity' by putting out rubbish in the wrong way. A coalition source said: "Authorities will still be able to take action against people who cause problems for their neighbours or the environment by not managing their rubbish properly, while those who simply make innocent mistakes will not be hit." Mrs Spelman said: "Heavy-handed bin fines have for too long been used to punish people for innocent mistakes. We are now consigning them to the scrap heap of history. We want to see people helping us to boost recycling rates by putting out their rubbish correctly, but bullying them with fines is not the way to do it. This consultation will mean that only those causing real problems for their community will get punished. I want to see this wrong righted as soon as possible, which is why we've written to councils today asking them to cut the size of penalties until the law is changed. Councils only ever issue bin fines as an absolute last resort when nuisance neighbours have persistently and wilfully caused damage to their local environment or refused to co-operate. David Parsons, chairman of the environment board at the Local Government Association, said: "Recycling continues to be a huge success story and this is down to the reliable service councils provide and the fact that the overwhelming majority of people want to recycle as much of what they throw away as possible. Householders need not have any concerns that innocent mistakes like leaving the bin out on the wrong day or putting paper in the plastics bin will land them with a fine. Only a tiny minority of households persistently leave their waste piled up in the street or wilfully contaminate their recycling - which means all other recyclables collected alongside them have to be sent to landfill. In these exceptional cases, where repeated attempts to help and educate them have failed, councils need effective and proportionate powers to ensure the inconsiderate actions of the few are not allowed to jeopardise the recycling efforts of the majority.