A FIVE-YEAR scheme has been agreed to collect paper, cans, glass and plastics from 38,000 homes.

Hambleton District Council has approved the £659,000 kerbside recycling project.

It will cover 96 per cent of households and will be launched in November. Some homes in remote areas will not be covered, but councillors have promised to explore ways of extending the scheme.

Each home will be issued with a box for cans, plastics and glass and a bag for paper. They will be collected fortnightly on a normal collection day, when either the green or black wheelie bins are emptied.

Fourteen extra staff will be employed to make the collections, using four new wagons.

Council leader Arthur Barker said: "There are some things we cannot recycle as yet - cardboard is one of them.

"Anything that we cannot take will be left for the householder to dispose of.

"As the scheme becomes more established, we hope to be able to increase the amount we take for recycling."

The project is part of the council's long-term goal to increase the amount of recycling carried out by households to 50 per cent by 2010.

Last year, the figure stood at almost 45 per cent, following the introduction of alternate weekly collections of compostable waste and household waste in 2005.

"Increasing our ability to recycle more household waste is a top priority for this authority," said Coun Barker.

"When we undertook a survey of residents last year, to find out what they wanted us to spend their council tax on, recycling came out tops again.

"Getting this scheme off the ground sees the council making a huge investment in the district - it is very exciting for the council to be able to deliver something the residents desperately want.

"It is vital that we reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. Our residents have already embraced this concept through alternate weekly wheelie bin collections, by using the recycling centres we provide and through composting.

"We hope this new scheme will see recycling rates in Hambleton rise once again."