HOUSEHOLDERS in Ledbury and Bromyard are being asked to help the county significantly raise its recycling rate.

Herefordshire Council is drawing up final plans to introduce kerbside recycling in urban areas.

The scheme will be introduced in the spring and residents will be getting coloured sacks and asked to sought recyclables ready for collection with their normal household rubbish.

Paper, light card and textiles will be collected in purple sacks one week, with cans and plastics in a clear sack the following week. Starter packs will be issued two weeks before the beginning of the scheme with a calendar of collection dates and information on what can be recycled.

The council is facing tough Government targets to raise its recycling levels. It currently recycles just over seven per cent of waste and composts a further six and a half per cent of green waste, although the latter figure is based on the busy summer period.

The introduction of kerbside recycling should allow it to reach the immediate 14 per cent Government target but it will have to introduce further measures by 2005/6 to reach 21 per cent.

Recyclable material will be collected with normal waste in special two compartment dustcarts.