TRIALS of a kerbside recycling scheme will start in Malvern in January.

People served by three of the eight refuse collection rounds in the area will be asked to sort their rubbish into coloured sacks.

Paper and textiles will be collected one week and cans and plastics the next, with left over waste still being collected weekly.

The rounds affected will be North and West Malvern and Malvern Wells; Powick, Callow End, Rushwick, Leigh Sinton and Suckley; Kempsey, Severn Stoke, Ripple, Upton and the Hanleys.

Malvern Hills District Council leader Tom Wells said: "We wanted to design a scheme that was simple and achieved the maximum level of recycling."

Recycling collections for the remaining five rounds in the area will start in the spring.

The council has hired three specially-designed vehicles to launch the trials, as the seven recycling vehicles the council has bought are not due to arrive until late February or late March next year.

Collections of glass for recycling will be trialed in Malvern town only from the spring. Special boxes will have to be provided, instead of plastic sacks.

Recycling is one of seven priorities to which the council committed itself following elections in May.

Coun Wells said he hoped to increase the amount of waste recycled in the area from 10 per cent to 25 per cent next year.

The Government target is for councils to recycle 18 per cent of waste.