A recycling trial involving four Wyre Forest families has achieved "outstanding" results, council chiefs announced today.

The Get Sorted! experiment organised by the Shuttle/Times & News was set up to test the district's new kerbside recycling scheme, which will be rolled out to homes from July.

And every one of the four families was recycling at least a quarter of their household waste by the end of the trial fortnight.

The results were a ringing endorsement of the scheme, said Wyre Forest marketing and projects officer Simon Trickett.

Top of the heap were retired couple Canon Guy Smith and his wife Mary, of Church Walk, Areley Kings. They were already avid recyclers before taking part - and managed to set aside some three-quarters of their rubbish during the trial. In their best week they recycled 12.1kg out of 15kg (80 per cent).

Shuttle/Times & News reporter Jane Abbott, who took part with her partner Richard and two-year-old son Felix, of Kidderminster, recycled 48.3 per cent of their rubbish in the second week, well up on week one when they managed 18.9 per cent.

"Once we got organised we found it a trouble-free and straightforward scheme," said Jane. "The extra work involved in sorting the rubbish and washing cans and bottles became second nature by the end of the fortnight."

It was a similar story at the home of Clare Palmer, her husband and two young children, of Comberton Avenue, Kidderminster. They also scored much better in week two, raising their recycling rate to 28.6 per cent.

The Bourne family, including five children, produced by far the most rubbish, throwing away a total of 101kgs - or 14.4 stone - over the fortnight. But of that staggering amount they managed to recycle 29 kgs, or nearly a third.

Mr Trickett said: "The results are very encouraging. A previous trial in Kidderminster, involving houses in a single street, saw an average recycling rate of 35 per cent and here the average rate has been about 30 per cent."

The kerbside recycling scheme will be slowly phased in from July, bin round by bin round. It involves getting households to recycle newspaper, cardboard, textiles, glass, tins, cans and plastic in two recycling boxes, which will be emptied weekly. The existing wheelie bins, which will be for all other waste, will only be emptied fortnightly once the scheme starts.

The aim is to dramatically improve the district's recycling rate, which is currently just six per cent.