WASTE recycling has given a £5,000 boost to County Durham charities.

Premier Waste Management, the company which runs Kerb-it household waste recycling collections, pledged to donate £1 to charity for every tonne of paper, cans and glass bottles it collected.

In the past two years, as the kerbside collections have been introduced in Sedgefield, Durham, Chester-le-Street and Easington, the fund has grown.

Cheques for £1,000 have been presented to civic leaders in each of the districts, and to the leader of Durham County Council, for their charities. They are Butterwick Hospice (Sedgefield), St Cuthbert's Hospice (Durham), Chester West Action Group, Chester-le-Street Theatre Group (Chester-le-Street) Macmillan Cancer Relief (Easington) and Friends of Hardwick Country Park (County Council).

The company's director of recycling Gary Whitehead said: "I hope this encourages even more people to recycle. Clearly, the more people that fill their kerbside recycling box, the bigger the Kerb-it Charity Fund will get."

He added that only about half the people who have recycling boxes use them and in some areas, less than half.

"I'm sure the people of County Durham can do much better. Just think what we could achieve for charities and good causes in the area if 100 per cent of households recycled."

Kerbside recycling collections have been introduced to reduce the amount of waste buried in landfill sites.

Charities hoping to benefit can write to Gary Whitehead, Premier Waste Management Ltd, Prospect House, Aykley Heads Business Centre, Aykley Heads, Durham DH1 5TS.