IF you thought you were helping the environment by buying green sacks for garden waste and leaving them out for recycling - forget it.

Garden waste in sacks collected by Malvern Hills District Council goes straight into a landfill site.

The council charges £1 for each green sack or 50p to over-65s.

Recycling and waste management officer Debra Parker said the charge was to discourage residents from using green sacks, as the council provided subsidised composting bins. Green waste can also be taken to the Waste Reclamation Centre for composting.

Rubbish collected in purple and clear bags was taken to the landfill site, where it was sorted and that which could be was recycled.

Garden waste in sacks collected by Herefordshire Council also goes straight into a landfill site. The sale of the sacks raises £80,000 for the council, which is putting the price up from 40p a sack to 60p from Monday.

Herefordshire councillor for Ledbury, Barry Ashton, said green sacks should be recycled and attacked the price rise as a "rip-off".

Recycler Steve Glennie Smith, of Victoria Road, Ledbury, said he would not buy the sacks, especially now he knows what happens to them. But he has a composter in his garden and takes other waste to Little Marcle Road waste site.

It was also a surprise to Herefordshire Friends of the Earth's Paige Mitchell, who said: "There's no reason why anyone should buy the green waste bags on this basis."

Herefordshire Council spokesman Andy Tector said: "The purpose of the charge is to discourage people from using the council's waste collection service as a means of disposing garden waste.

"The council encourages all residents to use home composters. In addition, there are facilities at the household waste site in Ledbury where garden waste can be deposited for composting."

The money from sack sales goes towards the cost of collection and disposal.

Mr Tector said a green waste collection service could raise costs by £20 a household.