A CONTROVERSIAL scheme that will see households having three separate wheelie bins to dispose of rubbish is set to be introduced to more areas of north Suffolk including parts of Halesworth and Southwold.

A CONTROVERSIAL scheme that will see households having three separate wheelie bins to dispose of rubbish is set to be introduced to more areas of north Suffolk including parts of Halesworth and Southwold.

The scheme, which is designed to boost recycling, has been hailed a success by Waveney District Council after a pilot scheme earlier this year.

More than 12,500 homes in the Gunton, Corton and Oulton Broad areas were given green and blue wheelie bins in addition to the black ones already in place.

Householders were asked to divide their rubbish up so that kitchen waste was placed in the black bin, garden waste in the green, and recyclable goods including paper, plastic cartons and tin foil, in the blue.

Collections alternated with the black bins being emptied one week and the green and blue the next.

There were problems with the system after it was labelled too complicated and there were complaints, particularly from large families, that the black wheelie bins were overflowing with rubbish after they were collected fortnightly.

However, despite these criticisms, officials have declared the pilot scheme a success and are asking councillors to extend it to other areas in north Suffolk.

Parts of Halesworth, Southwold, Reydon, Beccles, Worlingham, Bungay, Carlton Colville and Kessingland are due to be included in the second phase of the project starting in December.

Wendy Mawer, a member of the council's executive committee with responsibility for recycling, said she was delighted with the initial phase despite the early problems.

Mrs Mawer, of Holton, near Halesworth, said important lessons had been learned from the original pilot scheme and recycling had increased from 6% to around 40% in just a few weeks where the system had been in place.

The council's executive committee is being asked to approve the introduction of the second phase when its meets on Thursday, October 23.

In a report to the committee environmental officer Martin Plane said it was encouraging that members of the public were asking to be included in the recycling project.

"Public participation has been very good and significant amounts of waste have been diverted from landfill," he said.

The recycling initiatives follow new Government targets for local authorities to reduce the amount of waste going into landfill sites.

New bins are due to be delivered to households taking part in the scheme during November with new-style collections beginning from the first week of December.