Householders are being urged to "sort it" to increase recycling.

Newspapers, letters and brochures make up a third of the rubbish Bradford throws away.

Now Bradford Council hopes to make householders more environmentally-aware, with the arrival of 100,000 new recycling bins for homes across the district.

The drive to increase recycling coincides with the Telegraph & Argus Bin It for Bradford campaign.

One of its main aims is to encourage householders to take up recycling to reduce waste sent to landfill sites.

Council recycling officer Gerry McDermot said: "We hope the new bins will make a big impact on the amount we recycle over the next few years."

The £1.5 million scheme to provide half the district's homes with a second wheeled bin for waste paper is a big step in reducing the amount of rubbish sent to landfill sites each year.

Mr McDermot said: "It is extremely important that people recycle paper for two reasons.

"Firstly, the rise in landfill costs over the next few years will make it too expensive to deal with the amount of waste we currently dispose of.

"But more importantly, we need to save trees and other resources to protect the environment."

The Council aims to double its recycling rate over the next two years to 24 per cent.

Mr McDermot said: "We currently recycle about ten per cent of all waste and landfill the other 90 per cent.

"But paper could so easily be recycled.

"All it takes is a bit of effort to separate it from general household waste."

With the majority of bins now in place, the Council is faced with a fresh challenge. Mr McDermot said: "We need to make sure people who have second bins are using them.

"At the moment only half are taking part, which is something we really need to increase."

He said the main reason people were failing to get involved in the scheme was because it required a change in lifestyle.

"People need to change their habits and make the effort to fill their second bins."

And it was not as difficult as it seemed, according to Mr McDermot. He said: "At home I keep two kitchen bins - one for general waste and one for paper.

"That way I can throw all the junk mail I receive and newspapers I read straight into the bin for recycling. It's as easy as that."

Councillor Anne Hawkes-worth, the Council's executive member for the environment, added: "We really need every household in the district to take up recycling in any way they can in order to cut down the amount of rubbish we generate in this district."

But monitoring the scheme was made more difficult by householders who failed to get their bins emptied regularly.

Mr McDermot said: "Even if the bins aren't full we would ask householders to still put them out for collection because our wagons count the number they empty.

"That way we can monitor how well the bins are being used across the district."

The Council hopes to secure funding to provide remaining households with a second bin for recycling.

Mr McDermot said: "Any-thing that can be recycled should be. It should certainly not be buried in the ground to rot."

He said all households participating in the Let's Get It Sorted scheme received information outlining what was suitable for the bins.

But he added: "We can't take envelopes, cardboard or telephone directories."