WHEELIE bins and kerbside recycling boxes could be coming to Hyndburn this year if bids totalling more than £875,000 get the go-ahead.

Up to 6,000 homes in the borough could benefit from the £275,000 bid for wheelie bins, one of three the council has submitted to the Government. A further 6,000 bins would be introduced each year for two years with every house in the borough included by 2005/6.

The application was made to the neighbourhood renewal fund (NRF) for the Central, Church, Barnfield and Spring Hill wards.

Bids have also been submitted for £600,000 to pay for kerbside boxes for dry recycling and £90,000 for another 6,000 wheelie bins for green waste.

The bids were made in an attempt to meet stringent Government recycling targets imposed on local authorities. Hyndburn Council has also committed to the Lancashire waste strategy, a countywide initiative that sets even more demanding targets.

Under the Government targets the council would have to recycle 12 per cent of household waste by 2003/4 and up to 18 per cent the following year. The county targets increase those figures to 32 per cent and 38 per cent respectively.

The wheelie bin project was approved by the council in 1999. Members considered the results of a feasibility study in March this year and approved a recommendation to get the scheme up and running as soon as possible.

Coun Tim O'Kane, portfolio holder for environment and cleansing, said the council should hear any day if their bids have succeeded, though it could be a longer wait.

"If we get the go-ahead we can put the order in for the kerbside boxes and get on with it more or less straight away," he said.