District bosses have hailed a new recycling scheme in Exmouth as an ongoing success.

In the first six weeks of the service - introduced across the town in February - the amount of waste recycled rose from 44 per cent to 59 per cent. The amount thrown away in wheeled bins has fallen from 56 per cent to 41 per cent.

The new scheme saw the range of recyclable items extended to include cardboard, cartons and small electrical items, along with some plastics.

It will be rolled out to the rest of East Devon from June.

East Devon District Council leader Paul Diviani said: “The residents of Exmouth have really embraced the new service in such a short time and we are very grateful to them. We have worked hard prior to the introduction of the service to ensure that households had all the information they needed to make the new scheme work and this has certainly paid off when you look at the results.

“We are now turning our attention to rolling out the service to the rest of East Devon and we will be contacting households by post over the coming weeks to keep them informed of the changes.”