A TEESDALE volunteer group is being hailed across the country as a leading light in the recycling and composting of waste.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is using Teesdale Conservation Volunteers (TCV) as an example for other groups around the country who want to set up community composting schemes.

Defra has set aside £4m to support community waste organisations and is using the Teesdale group as a model for them to aspire to.

TCV, based in Startforth, near Barnard Castle, operates the Rotters community composting scheme to 3,500 houses around the town.

Using a converted milk float the group collects garden and other green waste from homes which are provided with specially-made bags.

The waste is then recycled into garden compost which is sold on for a small charge.

The scheme has become so successful that next year the operation is to double to 7,000 houses and cover most of Teesdale.

Martin Bacon, who runs TCV with his wife, Jill, said: "We're becoming a demonstration site to promote local groups to get involved in the same sort of things we're doing. When we started out we did two years of research and a pilot scheme in Bowes to get used to the quantities.

"A lot of groups are want-ing to set up straight away and don't have the experience, so it's good for them to see our working system up and running. It's great that a little place like Barnard Castle has become one of the biggest in the country."

Environment Minister Elliot Morley said: "Community waste projects now provide kerbside recycling services to more than two million homes, and have created thousands of jobs over the past ten years, as well as many training and volunteering opportunities for people who find it difficult to find work.

"The majority of organisations in the sector are small, localised voluntary groups relying heavily on grant funding or charitable donations. This funding is therefore a real opportunity for them to think about their future and what they need to do to sustain their activities."