CRAVEN residents will be handed a second "green" wheelie bin in a quarter of a million pound scheme to double the district's recycling rates.

In total 10,000 homes will receive the recycling bins and will be expected to sort their household waste ready for collection.

Craven District Council has been awarded £255,000 to distribute the bins, to buy a wagon to empty them and to transport the waste to a "green waste" centre where it will be turned into reusable compost.

Greg Robinson, the council's head of operations, said that there might be some opposition as households would have to find space for two wheelie bins and would have to move them onto the street for collection.

"But we have no choice but to think about ways to get rid of the household waste. A way had to be found to recycle as much waste as possible," said Mr Robinson.

Craven residents produce more than 23,000 tonnes of waste annually and recycle only 2,000 tonnes.

The council already operates more than 60 separate mini recycling sites in the district. As well as collecting glass, paper, card and tins, some larger sites have clothing and shoe recycling receptacles.

The council also offers subsidised composting bins to homes.

But statutory recycling targets means Craven will have to double its recycling rate by the end of 2003.

The new recycling bins to be distributed will be filled with garden waste and uncooked kitchen waste like peelings.

Before the scheme can be launched a "green waste" recycling facility has to set up.

This could possibly be at Skibeden tip, and Mr Robinson is currently in negotiations with the managers, Yorwaste.

When the company announced recently that it had signed a contract with Bradford Metropolitan Council to bring waste from Keighley and dump it at Skibeden, it hinted that new recycling opportunities would be set up at the site. No further details have been released.

Mr Robinson said that when the centre was up and running, half the district's population could be using the recycling bins within the year.

It might be impracticable to run a collection service from homes in outlying and rural areas. In these places, schemes such as community-based recycling projects could be tested.

Mr Robinson has received confirmation from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) that the council will receive 100 per cent of the approved costs for the project - £255,000. The money has come from the Government's £140 million earmarked for waste minimisation.

The costs are broken down to £135,000 for 9,000 bins (1,000 have already been distributed during a pilot scheme), £115,000 for the collection wagon and £5,000 for publicity.

The annual operating costs to the council are estimated at £18,200.

No details have yet been sent as to when or how the council will receive the funding.