RESIDENTS in Rossendale are urged to recycle more of their waste to avoid overflowing wheelie bins.

The borough council already operates schemes for recycling paper and other materials, and stores have banks for old bottles, newspapers, drink cans and clothing. Now councillors plan to look at other initiatives, including ways of recycling baked bean and soup cans.

Environmental health chairman Coun David Easton said: "We must look at ways of getting people to recycle more of their waste."

But he assured a meeting of the council that large families who had more rubbish than a wheelie bin held, would have extra rubbish collected in black bags at least for the first few weeks. The council would also publicise its home composters.

In response to questions, Coun Easton confirmed that people who injured themselves moving a wheelie bin could not make a claim against the council.

The wheelie bin introduction is now on hold until September. Most of the borough now had the new bins, while Haslingden, Edenfield and Stubbins would have wheeled bins in September.

The council, rather than the contractors, would now decide which people needed help with their bins and Coun Easton said this would be decided on the basis of need rather than age. Until now, only people over 80 had automatically been offered help.

Whitworth councillor Eileen Kershaw felt some of the problems experienced by staff in the town hall were not affecting the refuse collectors.

She said: "They are not the same cheerful, happy men we had before the introduction of wheelie bins."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.