Cheltenham Borough Council is investing £1.6 million in a fleet of special vehicles to help improve kerbside recycling in the district.

The 11 new Romaquip trucks will allow recycling materials to be kept in separate compartments so the quality will be maintained and the council will get the maximum value in return.

The vehicles' efficiency means that their road miles will be reduced as will their diesel consumption.

Ubico waste and recycling crews are being specially trained to get familiar with the new trucks before the rounds go live on October 16.

The trucks will be eye-catching with their bright green branding.

Councillor Chris Coleman, cabinet member for clean and green environment is excited about the launch. He said: ''The new vehicles look great and will enable us to do so much more, resulting in maximum return for our recycling and better value for the taxpayer.

''The way that the trucks operate means that we can take even more materials from the kerbside but to really help with this and to speed up the collection process, we are asking residents to do all they can to separate their recyclables.

"This means using at least two kerbside boxes if you have storage space and the new blue bag for cardboard. In doing this, we can present great materials for recycling and we can get trucks off streets quickly so that we don't get in the way of residents going about their daily routines.''

The frequency of the fortnightly garden waste and refuse collections will remain unchanged and food waste will continue to be picked up weekly.