GARDENERS are being urged to hand over a range of banned pesticides.

The European Union decided last summer to halt the sale of more than 80 garden pesticide products, containing six specific chemicals.

Hartlepool Borough Council is appealing to the town's gardeners to clear their shelves of the banned products and to turn them in.

Waste and recycling manager Colin Ogden said: "Under EU law, the pesticides can no longer be used. People were urged to use up stocks last autumn and they now have until the end of the month to dispose of any surplus.

"Gardeners can bring pesticides and herbicides to our household recycling centre, in Burn Road, where they will be disposed of safely and appropriately. Staff there will be happy to help. Such products should never be poured down sinks, toilets or drains."

People in the town are also being urged to support an initiative to increase recycling.

Containers for the disposal of plastic bottles have been placed at Nunn Street, on the Headland; Fens shops; Waldon Street car park, Seaton Park; Kwik Save, in Winterbottom Avenue; and Asda.