THE WHEELIE bin recycling scheme is set for its biggest expansion in Worcester, with an extra 14,000 homes set to join the club this autumn.

Dozens of streets around the Dines Green, Warndon and Red Hill areas will have to adapt to the new bin system.

Council bosses hailed the first phase of the scheme a big success, saying it resulted in an eight per cent increase in recycling.

Between January and March, 24 per cent of all household waste was recycled compared with just 16 per cent before the scheme was introduced.

It is hoped that at least that many homes recycled waste from April to June.

The scheme was originally introduced to 12,500 homes last September and is popular with the public, despite a deluge of complaints at the beginning over early collection times and bins being difficult to clean.

Homes in the scheme have two bins for waste - one for general rubbish and one for recycling. Each bin is collected fortnightly.

As the Worcester News reported in March, more than 80 per cent of the homes taking part in phase one said they were satisfied with the service when a sample of 700 were asked to provide feedback on it. Head of environmental services Mike Harrison said: "Our second phase will be the largest one so far, and two-thirds of the city will be involved in it.

"Every home included in the second phase of the scheme will get a leaflet through the post, telling them it is happening and providing a helpline for them.

"We are also employing new people to staff the help lines so they can deal with incoming calls.

"We know we are going in the right direction and consider phase one a success. I think the figures show that.

"Phase two will build on that success before we go on to launch phase three next year, which will mean that 96 per cent of Worcester homes will be using the two-bin system."

Leaflets will go out at the end of June to all the streets involved in the scheme, before phase two bins start being distributed in September and October.