A recycling revolution was launched in Waveney last night as council waste bosses strive to propel the authority into first place in the national recycling league.

A recycling revolution was launched in Waveney last night as council waste bosses strive to propel the authority into first place in the national recycling league.

Five thousand families from the Roman Hill area of Lowestoft and in Halesworth are to take part in a £150,000 initiative, which will see them given separate bins for food waste and a special bag for glass bottles and jars.

Rubbish collections will be made every week as the district council tries to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfill sites and educate people about the importance of recycling.

If the year-long trial proves successful it could be rolled out across other parts of the district, which already runs a three-bin system for general rubbish, recyclables and garden waste.

Ken Sale, Waveney's portfolio holder for the built environment, said: “The people of Waveney have worked hard to help us become the seventh best recycling authority in the country and the residents of Roman Hill and Halesworth have been selected to trial a scheme that could go some way to helping us achieve our ambition of being number one.”

Families will be encouraged to scrape food waste, including fish, meat, dairy products, fruit and vegetables into a caddy designed to be placed on a kitchen worktop.

Residents will receive biodegradable corn starch bags to line their caddies and the rubbish can then be put into a larger outside food bin for collection and transfer to a composting site elsewhere in Suffolk.

Meanwhile, they will also be given a large bag, made of an environmentally-friendly material called jute, to collect all empty glass bottles and jars.

The council decided to take action after discovering that more than 33pc of waste dumped in bins across Roman Hill was made up of food - meaning 8,000 tonnes is being dumped in landfill sites every year.

Glass accounted for 7pc of waste in general bins, equating to 1,750 tonnes a year being sent to landfill from Waveney.

The authority is not forcing people to take part, but is hopeful that at least 60pc of households will take part and help Waveney break through the 50pc barrier for the amount of waste it recycles.

Mr Sale added: “We will be offering people all our assistance and support to ensure that this is a successful trial and hope that they are eager to get going.

“The fact that residents will be able to dispose of essentially all their food waste and glass should make this scheme easy to understand. I am sure that they will soon get into the swing of using the handy containers. I am looking forward to seeing the results.”

Last year, 46.6pc of Waveney's waste was recycled, making it the seventh best performing authority in the country. The cash for the latest initiative has been made available through the national Waste Resources Action Programme and by a grant from the government department Defra. The money will also pay for extra staff and a new lorry to make the collections.

Residents are being sent leaflets explaining how the system works and the trial period is expected to start at the end of the month.

t For more information about recycling, call 01502 523117 or email recycling@waveney.gov.uk