NEW-look refuse lorries hit the streets of the district this week as part of a move to reduce landfill waste and increase recycling. A seven-year, £28-million contract has been awarded to Enterprise which from this month will be collecting glass bottles a

NEW-look refuse lorries hit the streets of the district this week as part of a move to reduce landfill waste and increase recycling.

A seven-year, £28-million contract has been awarded to Enterprise which from this month will be collecting glass bottles and jars for recycling with further improvements in the months to come.

Green waste collections, including food waste, will be rolled out from the end of April and the introduction of wheeled bins for refuse will begin in September.

The first change most people will have noticed is the move to boundary collections of refuse from this week. The aim is to improve efficiency, make collection rounds quicker and more cost-effective, reduce health-and-safety risks to refuse collectors and help prepare for boundary collections of wheeled bins when they arrive.

Rolls of refuse sacks have been delivered to every household to last until the launch of wheeled bins and glass collection boxes have been delivered to homes that do not already have them.

The council aims to recycle 50 per cent of household waste by 2010/11 to meet government and EU requirements to reduce the amount going to landfill.

At present the district collects about 1,000 tonnes of household waste each week of which some 32 per cent is recycled.

Cllr Mike Ellis, portfolio holder for environment and sustainability, said: "Residents of the city and district can congratulate themselves that they recycle as much as they do. Now together we need to take the recycling rate to 50 per cent to play our part in reducing in landfill.