RECYCLING is set to dramatically increase in West Somerset with the arrival of Recycle More, an expanded weekly recycling campaign from Somerset Waste Partnership (SWP), set to be launched at the end of February.

An SWP spokesman said that more than 70,000 households would benefit from the scheme, which would also improve recycling for homes with shared or communal collections, including blocks of flats and homes of multiple occupancy.

Items added to the weekly recycling collections will include plastic pots, tubs and trays, food and drink cartons, small batteries and small electrical items.

In future, rubbish bins or black sacks will be collected every three weeks instead of every two and collection days will change for more than half of households.

All residents with kerbside collections will have a new recycling container - a ‘Bright Blue Bag’ - delivered a week or two before the new service starts.

Residents will be sent information about Recycle More twice before the service starts, at about six weeks and three weeks before launch. This will include a collection day calendar and guide to what recycling goes into which container.

A customer survey in Mendip, which already has the Recycle More service, found that after six months 84 per cent of respondents said they preferred the new service over the old.

SWP managing director Mickey Green said: “We are really pleased with the way Recycle More has been received and the impact it is having.

“Almost all the recycling we collected last year stayed in the UK to be turned into new products and packaging. At a time when tackling climate change is high on the agenda, recycling more is something we can all do every day to help.”

Everyone can have a green and a black recycling box, plus a food waste bin. New or replacement containers can be ordered free of charge from the SWP website, somersetwaste.gov.uk, using the My Waste Service feature or by calling the district council.

Garden and clinical waste collections will not change with Recycle More.