PRIME Minister Tony Blair gave his support to a national recycling campaign during a recent visit to his Sedgefield constituency.

Mr Blair endorsed the Rethink Rubbish campaign, which encourages people to recycle household waste.

He visited residents in Trimdon Village, which is taking part in Sedgefield Borough Council's kerb-it scheme.

People in the village have been provided with recycling boxes for paper, glass and cans, which will be collected fortnightly, on the same day as other household refuse.

The materials will be sorted and sent for recycling to plants around the country.

The scheme is being phased in across the borough.

The first boxes were distributed in the middle of May and the whole borough will have been covered by the end of the month.

Oliver Priestley-Leach, the council's waste management officer, said: "It will increase our recycling rates and we are asking as many people as possible to participate in it."

Mr Priestley-Leach said he had worked out that if every household put in seven newspapers, five cans and two glass bottles a week, it would add up to 3,000 tonnes of recycled material a year.

The kerb-it scheme is being run in partnership with Durham County Council, Durham City Council and Chester-le-Street District Council.

An advertising campaign is being carried on buses and a recycling roadshow is also touring the county this week, ending in Newton Aycliffe town centre next Saturday.