Wychavon District Council's purple and clear sack scheme has marked its first anniversary by smashing a recycling record.

The district council has only just released its latest figures of the success of the sack scheme.

In the New Year, the recycling scheme went past the 3,000 tonnes collection milestone, and in January, this accelerated to a record of 416 tonnes.

Newspapers and magazines, directories, light card, junk mail, textiles, clothing and towels are placed in the purple bags. Plastics, such as drinks bottles, detergent bottles, toiletry bottles, and drink cans, food tins, aerosols and aluminium foil are placed in the clear bags.

"This is a fantastic response from the public," said Mark Ed-wards, waste management officer at Wychavon District Council.

"We hoped to get 2,000 tonnes by Christmas but we passed that in October and just kept going."

The scheme, which started in January 2003, collected 3,251 tonnes in its first year.

This means 16 per cent of all rubbish collected has been recycled either via the sack scheme or recycling banks.