A £1.6 million investment in special waste recycling vehicles in Cheltenham has seen a big rise in kerbside recycling.

Cheltenham Borough Council has taken on a fleet of 11 new Romaquip trucks which will allow materials to be sorted into separate compartments for recycling at the kerbside.

Since launching the new waste and recycling service in October, the borough council in partnership with Ubico Ltd, has seen a 25 per cent increase in the tonnage of recycling and food waste being collected from kerbside, which has far exceeded the expectations.

This vast increase in kerbside recycling has however had an impact on the collection capacity. Some residents have experienced delays or missed collections and the council says it is working to address these concerns.

If a collection has been missed, crews will return the following day so residents are advised to keep their bins, boxes, blue bags and caddies out.

Tim Atkins, the council's managing director for place and economic development who is now over-seeing the project, said: "The increase in recycling is truly impressive. Residents now recycle far more than ever before and since the new service went live, we have seen a firm increase in the amount of items being diverted from landfill.

"This is great news and means that Cheltenham is contributing significantly to Gloucestershire's recycling targets. We appreciate that some people have been inconvenienced and residents should be assured that we are doing all we can to offer a high quality, improved service.''

Evidence from other recycling projects, shows that initial peaks, such as this, may reduce as time goes on, however, so the council is asking all residents to keep recycling.

To assist they are asked to where possible to speed up the time crews are spending in residential areas by separating recyclables. Mixed plastics, tins, cans and aerosols can go in to one box and paper and glass in another, with all cardboard in the blue bag. Household batteries, small electricals and dry, clean textiles and shoes can also be bagged and popped inside the boxes.