RECYCLING will get a major boost in Weymouth and Portland when brown kitchen caddies are delivered to flats and terraced houses across the borough from today.

The deliveries will bring 4,000 more households into Weymouth and Portland's kitchen waste recycling scheme.

The 25-litre caddies are a smaller alternative to the large brown wheelie bins for properties which have little outside space.

They can be used to dispose of food waste including meat and fish and corrugated cardboard which will be collected weekly for composting rather than ending up in landfill.

The amount of rubbish being sent to landfill has been reduced by a massive 300 tonnes per month since the system of collecting food waste separately was introduced to the first households in the borough in 2005.

Environment spokesman Doug Hollings said: "The wheelie bin scheme has helped Weymouth and Portland to achieve the best recycling rate in the whole of Dorset and it's great to see the final phase going into action.

"The benefit of introducing caddies to areas that are still on the black sack collections is that it will help divert even more organic waste from landfill.

"If it goes into landfill, organic waste produces greenhouse gases which cause global warming. If it is collected separately, on the other hand, it can be turned into a useful resource - compost."

He added that collection will start in the week beginning November 5. All households receiving a new caddy have also been sent a leaflet explaining the scheme with details of their new collection day.

Black sack rubbish collections will continue as normal.