HOMES in Worcester have been set an ambitious target - to recycle 34 per cent of all household waste by 2011.

The introduction of a heavily-criticised kerbside recycling scheme in the autumn resulted in recycling levels in the city shooting up - and now the council is set to put the pressure on.

"I think the target of 34 per cent is quite realistic," said head of environmental services Mike Harrison.

"The scheme at the moment only covers a third of all households, and as we roll it out over Worcester we expect our figures to increase a lot. The future looks very positive."

In January 2005 only 19 per cent of all rubbish was recycled but that figure increased to 26 per cent this year. The scheme has only been in operation for three months and reaches 12,500 homes.

The average amount of recycling for the entire three months since it started is 24 per cent of all waste.

It makes use of two bins for each city household - one for recyclable items and one for general rubbish.

Each bin is then collected on a fortnightly basis.

It received criticism from members of the public when it started last November over confusion on what items to put in each bin.

There were also concerns over how to keep bins clean.

Some residents have bombarded a special council hotline with complaints over the rule bins must be left outside by 7am on collection day.

"It did take time for people to get used to it," said Mr Harrison. "We think it's a great service.

"I think we can be optimistic and say we have done the minimum amount of work so far in terms of the homes we wanted to cover.

"When we reach the homes we haven't been able to get to yet I think we can go very far. I'm quite hopeful of that."