REDDITCH middle schools are being offered cash incentives to recycle more of their cardboard.

The new initiative, being launched by Redditch Council with support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), is offering eight middle schools the chance to earn cash in return for recycling.

It is a six-month pilot scheme and the more cardboard and paper recycled at recycling centres in schools, the more money the council will give them for environmental improvement projects. Schools will receive £100 for every tonne recycled, up to a maximum of £2,000 per school.

The trial will coincide with a wider publicity campaign to raise awareness that, while thick, brown or corrugated cardboard cannot be collected by kerbside collection schemes, it can be recycled in the paper banks at local recycling centres.

Council spokesman for waste management, Ceridwen John, said: "We're delighted our application for funding from DEFRA was accepted and we hope residents take part in the scheme to help ensure schools receive the maximum funding to enhance their environment.

"We're hoping to recycle an additional 150 tonnes of cardboard which we're sure is out there in people's wheelie bins. This material is worth its weight in gold for local middle schools so we hope people make the effort to recycle it."

For more details, call the recycling hotline on 534190.

Around 50 schemes countrywide will pilot and assess various approaches to encourage people to recycle and reduce waste.