Boost for recycling business

Jill and Martin Bacon started their business - Teesdale Rotters - as a favour to neighbours who wanted rid of garden rubbish but faced a long trek to the nearest tip.

They used an old milk float to collect grass cuttings, weeds and hedge clippings.

Last year they recycled 500 tons of green waste in their compound at Startforth near Barnard Castle, Co Durham.

But they are now on course to deal with 1,000 tons this year, and their aim is to process 2,000 tons from all over the district next year.

Mr and Mrs Bacon, who formed the Teesdale Conservation Volunteers to launch the service three years ago, collected garden rubbish only in the village of Bowes at first, but then expanded to take in 1,200 houses in Barnard Castle.

This year their round is growing again to include 3,500 houses in Barnard Castle, Startforth, and Cotherstone - and next year they mean to cover at least 7,000 households.

They take away weeds, leaves, grass and hedge clippings free of charge on an old milk float, then sell the compost made from it to local residents at £1 a bag, compared with a price of around £5 a bag in shops.

Mr Bacon said yesterday, "We are proud of the scheme because it saves the council the expense of collecting and disposing of the rubbish. Instead of taking up space in a landfill site it is turned into something really useful."

They are paid £42 a ton by the county council for the waste they collect, and hope to get an agreement to receive this money for the next three years so they can go on expanding.

They have received grants from the Royal Society for Nature Conservation to pay for equipment. They are helped by volunteers as well as people on job creation and work experience schemes.

A Durham County Council spokesman said yesterday, "We have agreed to pay the volunteers for the current year, but can't commit to future years because the question of this sort of payments is still under review by the government."