BRITAIN'S favourite hoarders, The Wombles, are visiting Wear Valley this weekend to encourage residents to follow their example at the launch of a £700,000 recycling scheme.

About 80,000 homes in the Wear Valley, Teesdale and Derwentside areas will be targeted by the initiative, which seeks to meet Government recycling targets.

Starting this month, all houses in the three districts will receive a green recycling box for paper, card, cans and glass.

A separate sack will also be distributed for textile collections.

In a pioneering move, each recycling box will be fitted with a unique barcode that will be scanned every time the boxes are emptied.

Money for the kerbside scheme comes in the form of a £700,000 grant from the Government's Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund.

It is being supported by a partnership that includes Wear Valley District Council, Teesdale District Council and Derwentside District Council.

Waste management company Cory Environmental will be providing the recycling collection service in Wear Valley.

Foreman Recycling will sort the collected materials from all three districts and Groundwork West Durham will provide advice in local environmental awareness initiatives.

Project officer Lindsay Reed, from Cory Environmental, said: "Everyone is welcome to come and join the event on Saturday, to find out about the scheme. It will be a fun and informative day and a great opportunity for local residents to learn about recycling and how they can do their bit for the local environment."

The launch of the kerbside scheme will be in Bishop Auckland town centre, on Saturday, from 11am to 3pm.

Residents are invited to attend the event, where children's favourite television characters The Wombles will make a guest appearance along with displays, competitions and giveaways.

The Wombles have been chosen to promote the scheme because they are known to go through Wimbledon Common picking up the items that "every-day folk leave behind" and making good use of them.