Council starts new recycling idea

People living in a Leicestershire borough are being encouraged to switch to new ways of recycling household waste in a special trial.

The scheme called Saving Waste In The Charnwood Home (SWITCH) aims to reduce the amount of rubbish currently sent to landfill sites.

About 1,400 homes in Barrow, Quorn and Loughborough will be offered free equipment to dispose of their waste.

It is hoped this will prevent rubbish being put in wheelie bins.

The equipment includes home composters, food digesters, reduced-rate garden waste bins and wormeries.

Councillor Mike Preston, Charnwood Borough Council's cabinet member for environment, said: "The aim is to find out how we can best help our residents to minimise the amount of waste they produce and which activities are the most effective at diverting rubbish away from landfill.

"We will be analysing the results closely and hope to make successful parts of the trial available to other residents in the borough in the future."