Controversial plans to charge people to dispose of clinical sacks have been put on hold in the face of a mountain of opposition.

Currently, anyone creating medical waste – such as diabetics who need to inject insulin – have it collected free of charge by Thanet District Council.

But the authority proposes a fee of more than £200 a year to pick up yellow clinical sacks, with extra charges of as much as £8.49 per individual collection of sharps boxes.

The move was announced in December and was set to be implemented this month, but has now been delayed following a number of objections, with many opponents citing the free needle collections enjoyed by illegal drug users.

Among those to complain are type 1 diabetics Claire Clarke and Julie Norwood, who also run the Thanet Clinical Waste Protest group on Facebook and have launched a petition against the changes.

Mrs Clarke said: "Charging yellow bag users would promote overfilling of black bins, leading to seagulls being able to potentially tip human waste across the streets, would encourage sharps users to put sharps in black bins making these again dangerous for both the public and waste teams, or make those with no choice about using needles pay when those who choose this life can get their sharps bins changed free.

"We feel it is discrimination, as drug users can still get their sharps collected free but diabetics would be charged.

“We don't choose type 1 - it's an auto-immune disease which affects every minute of every day. It's life- threatening and not a choice.

"We asked the council at last week's meeting about equality and liability and felt we got very glossed-over political answers, but they said the issues were being looked at and deferred."

Mrs Norwood added: "Those that choose to inject drugs into their bodies for other than medical reasons do so out of choice, but they aren’t being charged for collections.

"Thanet District Council is in debt, we all know that. Clinical waste users are being used as a way to pay off a bit of that debt and we are being discriminated against due to our illnesses, which aren’t down to lifestyle choices."

Thanet District Council says the changes have been deferred so a “wider review” can be carried out.

A spokesman said: "We have listened to recent feedback from users of the clinical waste service who are directly affected by these charges and the council now wants to carefully consider the concerns raised.

"In order to do this, we have decided to defer the implementation of these changes until we have undertaken a wider review, informed by comments from our residents.

"We will continue to deliver this service free of charge whilst a review is carried out with health partners, health groups and clinical waste services users."