KERBSIDE recycling will be provided for thousands more York residents from this summer.

Ruling councillors have agreed a timetable to widen the service to people living in flats or terraced houses.

A pilot scheme of 700 homes in The Groves was declared a success and the council will now roll out kerbside recycling elsewhere.

In June and July, 1,000 properties currently getting a limited recycling will be upgraded to the full kerbside service.

From July, there will also be an improved service for 3,000 people in flats or communal accommodation, many of whom currently get no recycling. From October, 3,990 properties currently receiving only paper recycling will be given a greater service.

More terraced properties, farms and isolated rural properties will then get improved recycling from April or October 2010.

Coun Ann Reid, City of York Council’s executive member for neighbourhood services, said the pilot in The Groves had gone well.

She said: “Residents in flats have been particularly keen and they seemed to like the high-quality recycling containers.”

Coun Christian Vassie, the council’s energy champion, said: “Recycling is an area of real success in the past six years.”

John Goodyear, assistant director for neighbourhood services, said the amount of recycling collected in tons in York was currently falling, as people were producing less waste overall, but he said the percentage of waste that was recycled was on the rise.

Coun Reid said last year York recycled 48 per cent of its waste and the aim this year is to hit 50 per cent.

She said: “The current rate of recycling is an excellent achievement.

“However, it is vital that we continue to push ourselves so we can further cut down our waste and help to protect the environment.”

“Not only will increasing our recycling rate help to protect the environment, but it will also help us reduce the £2 million a year we are forced to pay central government in landfill taxes.”

Geoff Derham, head of the council’s waste and cleaning services section, said a project team was being set up to deal with the work required in rolling out recycling across the city, and to look for tailored solutions for the different types of properties.