A VOLUNTEER group has warned it might have to go into competition with a local authority if it decides to press ahead with a garden waste recycling scheme.

Teesdale District Council has applied for a £260,000 grant to buy 7,000 wheelie bins and a refuse collection vehicle so that it can implement a green waste recycling system.

However, members of Teesdale Conservation Volunteers (TVC) who run a similar composting scheme, called Rotters, in Barnard Castle, feel they should continue to do the work.

Mark Ladyman, Teesdale council's director of community services, has said he is happy to work in partnership with TCV or any other company.

He has suggested the council could collect the waste, with the disposal and composting left to another group.

But TCV project manager Martin Bacon believes that would create funding problems for the volunteers, because whoever collects the waste is given recycling credits worth £40 per tonne.

Mr Bacon said: "The council hopes to fund the service through the recycling credits. If we are still collecting it could be detrimental to them"

Mr Ladyman said: "We have a statutory duty to meet recycling targets. If we don't, there could be financial penalties. I am not too sure whether we can claim for the Rotters carrying out recycling in Barnard Castle."

However, Mr Bacon said he had been assured by Durham County Council that TCV's work would count towards recycling targets.

TCV is a non-profit making business and has been running the Rotters scheme for two years.

Mr Bacon hopes to expand the operation to cover 85 per cent of Teesdale by Spring 2005.

Teesdale is achieving a recycling rate of 15.5 per cent, but needs to reach a statutory target of 25 per cent by 2006.

Mr Bacon said: "We haven't worked for two years for nothing. Hopefully we can work something out with the council. These sort of things should be done on a local level by the community. We have got a lot of support for what we do."