The new recycling service in East Cambridgeshire has been hailed a success, after more than 70,000 wheelie bins were delivered to households across the district.

Households are now recycling more, and less rubbish is being put into black sacks for landfill, East Cambridgeshire District Council announced this week.

Kevin Ellis, recycling and waste champion at East Cambridgeshire District Council, said: “We would like to thank everyone in East Cambridgeshire for taking to the new recycling service with such enthusiasm.

“While we won’t have official figures until January, it is clear that the amount of recycling households are doing across the district has risen, while the weight of rubbish put out in black sacks has fallen. This has been a tremendous effort and we should all be very proud of the change in performance.”

The enhanced service - with blue lidded bins for recycling and green lidded bins for garden and food waste - was possible after the council successfully bid for £5million from central government.

The wheelie bins are collected fortnightly, and households have been given an annual supply of black sacks, for the weekly rubbish collection.

Mr Ellis added: “Obviously such a large scale roll out of a new service can lead to minor teething problems so we would especially like to thank those people who experienced difficulties for their patience.

“We now have a first rate recycling service which we believe will help our recycling rate. We have made a good start but we cannot afford to be complacent. The challenge for us all is to constantly look at we are about to throw away and ask ourselves if that item should be recycled. If we continue to do that then the results can only ever be positive.”

For more information on the waste and recycling service in East Cambridgeshire please visit http://www.eastcambs.gov.uk/waste/recycling-service-changes or call 01353 665555.