Michaela Strachan, star of the BBC's Really Wild Show, has launched Chelmsford Borough Council's Watch Your Waste Line kerbside recycling scheme at Moulsham Junior School.

Michaela Strachan with some of the pupils from Moulsham Junior School, Chelmsford, with their 'space city' built entirely from recyclable materials.

The recycling scheme enables 45,000 households across urban Chelmsford to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill.

In this first phase of a rolling programme, householders in Galleywood, Moulsham Lodge and Tile Kiln areas will be given a brown wheeled bin, a white bag for cardboard, and a plastic collection, in addition to the green box and white bag for paper that they already have.

A wide variety of materials can be recycled, from glass and cans to clothes and shoes, from junk mail and newspapers to grass cuttings, hedge trimmings and last summer's dead plants. Cardboard will also be collected along with a new trial for collecting plastic bottles.

Launching the scheme, Michaela Strachan said: "We all hate rubbish. Whether it's an empty bean can or a fortnight's worth of Sunday supplements, we just want to chuck it away.

"Let's face it - none of us feel like we really make that much rubbish, but add it together and you'd be surprised that every household throws away about one tonne of rubbish a year.

" I'm really pleased to launch this scheme which will help everyone in Chelmsford recycle more and reduce the amount of environmentally damaging rubbish."

Executive member for the environment, councillor Trevor Miller said: "Recycling is vital if we are to cut down on the amount of rubbish which gets sent to landfill and poses a continuing threat to the environment.

"Our scheme in South Woodham Ferrers has already been blazing a trail and we have seen recycling there increase to 40% of all households. By expanding the popular kerbside recycling scheme, we aim to get the recycling rates in Chelmsford up to 60% by 2007."

Published Tuesday October 22, 2002