VILLAGERS are being offered the chance to win £1,000 for their communities by recycling more.

Thirty eight parishes are taking part in a pilot scheme in the Hambleton District Council area to boost recycling rates across the district.

The amount of glass, cans and paper collected in the six months to March next year will be counted for each site.

And the village which has increased its recycling rates by the biggest margin will take the £1,000.

Each community has been asked to nominate a worthy cause for the cash, and these include schools, scout and guiding groups, and churches.

By the end of November, Hambleton was recycling 46 per cent of all waste through its network of mini recycling centres, household waste sites, kerbside schemes and green wheelie bin collections of compostable waste.

The cash prize is part of a home incentives scheme being funded by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which wants to not only boost recycling rates but see how well incentives motivate people.

The following villages are taking part: Alne, Appleton Wiske, Busby Stoop, Carlton Husthwaite, Chop Gate, Coxwold, Crathorne, Crayke, Danby Wiske, East Cowton, Exelby, Farlington, Felixkirk, Great Broughton, Great Smeaton, Hackforth, Helperby, Kirby Wiske, Kirkby Fleetham, Knayton, Linton-on-Ouse, Morton-on-Swale, Newby Wiske, Newton-on-Ouse, Raskelf, Sessay, Shipton by Beningbrough, Stillington, Sutton under Whitestonecliffe, Thornton le Beans, Thornton le Moor, Tholthorpe, Thornton Watlass, Tollerton, Topcliffe Barracks, Thrintoft, Well, and West Tanfield.