BY THE end of August every household in Poole should have a smart new blue recycling wheelie bin delivered to their door.

After eight years, black recycling boxes have been withdrawn and 62,000 homes will have access to 140 litre kerbside bins when the new rounds begin in September.

"The black boxes were very small and restricted in what you could take for recycling," said Toni James, project co-ordinator, consumer protection, Borough of Poole.

"It meant that people were having to go to the recycling centres at Tesco and Sainsbury's to deposit some of the things that wouldn't fit in them."

Recycling officer Rachel Holt said: "What we have done now is take a new contract with a materials recycling facility which enables us to collect paper, cardboard, glass, tins and plastic bottles."

When the fortnightly rounds start next month residents will be able to put such items as junk mail, catalogues and telephone directories, aerosols and glass jars into their blue wheelies.

All will be transported to a recycling plant in Kent where state-of-the-art technology sorts the material by weight and shape using a drum, magnets and eddy currents, ballistic separators and optical sort detection.

"The council wants to work with people to make sure this is as successful as it possibly can be," said Toni. "We are asking the public to help us help them keep their own costs down."

Poole is currently one of the top councils in the country for recycling with a figure of 19 per cent but government targets are about to get tougher, with 40 per cent of household waste recycled by 2005/06 and huge fines if targets are not met.

Purchase and delivery of the 52,000 bins cost £1.36m and the scheme's yearly operating cost is £300,000.

"Meeting our recycling targets is one of the toughest challenges facing the council and one I hope every householder will lend their support to," said Cllr Peter Adams, chairman of the environment overview group.

"The blue bin scheme should make recycling simpler and easier for everybody," he said.

Normal waste collection rounds will not be affected, everyone will receive an information pack with their bins and for more information call consumer protection on 01202 261700.

First published: August 14