Calderdale Council's health and social care spokesman Graham Reason (Con, Northowram and Shelf) said he would try once again to try to get the two sides to talk before Kerbside's contract expires at midnight.

"But Kerbside has to come to the table in a spirit of co-operation," he said.

His comments followed a noisy protest last night outside Halifax Town Hall by more than 100 Kerbside supporters.

They gave Peter Coles (Lib Dem, Luddenden Foot) a 600-plus name petition urging councillors to fund Kerbside, which recycles refuse from 25,000 homes between Todmorden and Halifax.

The Conservative prospective Parliamentary candidate for the Calder Valley, Craig Whittaker, said: "You have a lot of support. I am behind you and we must get some justice in this."

The minister for the Upper Calder Valley Methodist Circuit, Tony Burglass, said he was praying for Kerbside. "The recycling system isn't broke so don't try to fix it – we don't want Sita," he said.

Christine Bampton Smith (Lib Dem, Luddenden Foot) said in 10 years as a councillor, she had never had so many messages on a single issue.

Olwen Jennings (Lib-Dem, Todmorden) said Sita would recycle fewer items than Kerbside, which was a step backwards.

The deputy Conservative leader of the council, Stephen Baines (Northowram and Shelf) said: "We always insisted that there had to be an element of social enterprise in the new waste management contract but under EU law we could not stipulate it would have to involve Kerbside."

• All five of Calderdale Council's household waste sites will be closed tomorrow to prepare for the switch from Focsa Services to Sita UK.

• Has Kerbside been treated fairly by the council? Vote now in our poll on the right.