KERBSIDE recycling should begin in and around Malvern next spring.

Malvern Hills District Council is hoping the scheme will be available to rural and urban areas alike when it is launched around May next year.

MHDC is expecting to place an order for seven new refuse freight vehicles by the end of this month.

Strategic director Colin Davis said it took around eight months for the vehicles to arrive.

Once they do, households will be able to put plastics, paper, textiles and metals into different-coloured sacks for collection during the normal bin rounds. Glass will also be collected, but initially only from towns.

Council leader Tom Wells said he expected the district to exceed its Govern-ment-set target of recycling 18 per cent of its rubbish.

"We're confident we can beat that and deliver a 20 to 25 per cent figure at the start-up," said Coun Wells, who added that he was building towards a 50 per cent rate within the next ten years.

"I'm hoping in the next few months we can devise a scheme which is simple and achieves the maximum level of compliance with households

"There's a great demand for this and I'm determined we produce something simple to operate.

"If it's too complicated people won't know what's going on and if the public chooses not to take part we can't get anywhere."

Coun Wells added that he believed the scheme would have a doubly positive impact if households gave it support.

"With the landfill tax going up every year, it's costing tax payers to bury waste in the ground now. So not only is the scheme environmentally sound but it's good financially," he said.