Hambleton's collections of green wheelie bins begin again this month after a ten-week lay-off.

Valentine's Day, February 14, will mark 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.

The residents - in Thirsk, Bedale, Easingwold, Stokesley, Great Ayton, parts of Northallerton and the surrounding villages - separate their waste into compostable garden waste and household waste that is collected on alternate weeks.

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

Over the quieter winter months of December and January, the council only emptied black bins but now that spring is on the way, gardeners are expected to be getting busy again.

"Switching systems is not ideal but we hope that 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 last two years - and we expect to rise above 31 per cent by the end of March," said local cabinet member for the environment, Councillor John Morley.