THREE County Durham councils are to use the latest technology monitor waste recycling from 80,000 homes.
Wear Valley, Teesdale and Derwentside District Councils are joining forces to offer residents a green box scheme for waste collection.
Each box will be electronically tagged with a barcode so the authorities can monitor their recycling performance in a bid to meet Government targets by 2003.
The containers will take paper, card, cans and glass, as well as clothing and shoes, and will be scanned every time they are emptied into waste wagons.
The councils said this would be a "huge technological challenge" which has never been tried before.
With specialist partners Cory Environmental, Foreman Recycling and Groundwork West Durham, they are due to launch the scheme in Bishop Auckland, on Saturday, December 7, and will begin delivering the 55-litre boxes in January.
A delay in receiving a £700,000 grant from the Government's Waste Minimisation and Recycling Fund has already put the project three-months behind schedule and companies supplying the boxes have been working round the clock to meet a sudden increase in demand.
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