AN ageing milk float is being pressed into service on Teesside this month in an unusual morning round.

The 30-year-old battery-powered vehicle will be used to collect green waste from Middlesbrough residents.

The collected grass cuttings and hedge clippings will be composted at an undisclosed location in the town. They will be returned by the milk float to the same doorsteps in the months ahead as nutrient-rich, organic garden fertiliser. A liquid supplement will be delivered free as a bonus.

One hundred people have signed up to a pilot scheme as the first members of the Middlesbrough Environment City Compost Club.

Organisers hope to double that figure in the months ahead and continue to expand, subject to funding.

It is hoped in future to turn the garden waste loaded on to the float into organic fertiliser at community composting sites, which could set up across the town.

The aim of the fortnightly service is to reduce fly-tipping and help the planet by cutting down on the use of garden chemicals.

Initially the team will focus on the more deprived areas of the town including the wards of Ayresome, Beckfield, Beechwood, Berwick Hills, Pallister Park, Easterside, Gresham, Newport, Grove Hill, Hemlington, North Ormesby, Brambles Farm, Park End, Riverside, Stainton and Thornton and Thorntree.

With 4,000 compost bins to give away, 500 of them in this pilot scheme, council compost officer Paul Emmerson said no one should have an excuse not to recycle their garden and kitchen waste.

He said: "A quarter of all household waste can be composted, so there is a saving straight away on the amount put out for collection while organic compost is more environmental friendly than chemicals and works better in the soil.''

The pilot scheme -Compost Crew (Community Reduction and Education in Waste) -is being funded by Middlesbrough Council with money from the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme and the European Regional Development Fund.

Simon Cross, the presenter of Tyne Tees Television's The Kitchen Gardener, will launch the scheme.

The team has already supplied compost bins to residents and held workshops on how to compost effectively at home.