NORTH-EAST householders are helping to keep a vital emergency service in the air by recycling rubbish.

The Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS) was yesterday presented with a cheque for £10,000, raised through the efforts of people who regularly recycle their paper, glass bottles and cans.

The Kerb-it kerbside box recycling scheme, operated by Premier Waste Management, involves more than 410,000 households in Easington, Sedgefield, Durham City, Chester-le- Street, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead.

When the scheme was launched just over a year ago, Durham-based Premier Waste Management, pledged to donate £1 for every tonne of rubbish collected. To date, almost 30,000 tonnes have been recycled, which means £30,000 for good causes.

Premier also promised to give 50p in the pound for a year to GNAAS and the biggest slice of that, £10,000, was handed over yesterday.

A wide range of other organisations will receive smaller amounts from the other money raised.

Gary Whitehead, director of recycling at Premier Waste Management, said: "I think everyone knows that, as a country, we need to reduce the amount of rubbish we bury at landfill sites.

"But locally we now have an extra special reason - the more we use our Kerb-it boxes, the more money we will be able to donate to good causes."

The Great North Air Ambulance Service was chosen as a major beneficiary because it covers all of the areas involved in Kerb-it and relies on charity donations to survive.

GNAAS chief executive Grahame Pickering said: "Kerb-it has made it easy to recycle from home and now, as well as saving the planet, recyclers can actually help to save lives in the North-East."

The two helicopters run by the service cost about £750,000 each a year to keep flying.