The Cabinet has agreed to delay pay-by-weight bin charges - but the Environment Minister has indicated they are not being scrapped

Denis Naughten says households must still be given an incentive to reduce the amount of waste they put into wheelie bins.

A dual billing system was set to be applied from January, allowing people six months to monitor the changes and opt in to the new scheme before full implementation.

The scheme - which aimed to calculate costs by the kilo - was unveiled last summer.

However the issue caused controversy when waste collectors were accused of using the change to hike charges.

The voter backlash against the scheme saw the government put a freeze on bills until next year.

Today, Minister Naughten said the proposal must be delayed because he has not yet been able to agree a pricing structure with the bin companies.

"We haven't agreed the new pricing regime, so there isn't much point introducing an invoicing system that will reflect a pricing regime that hasn't yet been agreed with the industry," he said.

"Once that's agreed with the industry, then we will have to look at implementation," he added.

Green Party Councillor Ciaran Cuffe said people need an incentive to reduce waste: