ALMOST 9,000 tonnes of rubbish from homes across Burnley were recycled over the past year instead of being dumped into the ground.

In the first year of Burnley Council's recycling and refuse collection service a total of 8,379 tonnes of glass, cans, plastic bottles, paper, cardboard, textiles and garden waste were collected.

The borough introduced controversial new alternate week recycling and refuse collections last April.

Council bosses said it meant the amount of rubbish that had to be tipped in a landfill site to pollute the ground for generations to come was cut by almost a third.

It also means that the borough's recycling rate has risen from 12 per cent before the service was introduced in April 2005 to approaching 30 per cent, above the Government target.

Helen Williams, the council's rethinking waste officer, said: "Thanks to the support of local people we've managed to recycle a massive amount of rubbish that would otherwise been polluting the ground.

"Now we plan to build on the success of this first year and, with the help of residents, we aim to increase the amount of recyclable rubbish we collect, reduce the amount of rubbish we collect that can't be recycled, and so boost our recycling rate even further."

In the first 12 months of the service the council collected: l 3,015 tonnes of garden waste l 2,815 tonnes of paper l 2,263 tonnes of glass, cans and plastic bottles l 286 tonnes of cardboard and textiles l 19,107 of non-recyclable rubbish.