RECENT milder weather has encouraged many people back into their gardens, clearing up before the onset of spring.

With that in mind, green wheelie bin collections begin again in Hambleton next week after a ten-week lay-off. Monday marks the return of alternate weekly collections of green and black wheelie bins for the 30,000 householders who are signed up for the district council scheme.

People in Thirsk, Bedale, parts of Northallerton and surrounding villages, Easingwold, Stokesley, and Great Ayton separate their waste into compostable garden waste and household waste for the appropriate collection.

They are also asked to recycle as much as possible through the 121 recycling centres located around the district.

Collections in December and January were restricted to black bins. Local cabinet member for the environment John Morley said: "Switching systems is not ideal but we hope residents will continue to get behind a scheme which has already seen the combined recycling and composting rates rise from 9.6 per cent to 24 per cent over the past two years - and we expect to top 31 per cent by the end of March."