Recycling levels across the district have been boosted by thousands of extra bottles deposited in recycling banks over the festive period.

More than a million bottles and jars have been collected at bottle banks since the start of December, smashing last year's figure by 36 tonnes.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, executive member for the environment, said: "The amount of glass collected locally is going up and up, and this is good news for the environment.

"Through the Telegraph & Argus Bin It for Bradford campaign, local people and businesses have been encouraged to recycle more of their rubbish and judging by the increase in the amount of bottles collected, the message is getting through."

The need to increase recycling in the district was highlighted by the T&A in October when the Bin It for Bradford campaign was launched to encourage people to take up recycling and reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill sites.

Figures revealed then showed just eight per cent of glass disposed of in Bradford each year made it into the recycling bin, leaving 18,000 tonnes to be buried in the ground each year.

Bradford Council's recycling officer, Gerry McDermot, said: "Glass can be recycled again and again without losing any of its original quality. This saves energy and reduces the amount of raw materials used, but if it is buried in the ground it is lost forever."

Now the Council must try to increase its recycling rate from ten per cent to 25 per cent by 2005 to comply with a European Union directive to cut the amount of waste sent to landfill sites.

And with 296 tonnes of glass collected in Bradford since the start of December, which is 120,000 more bottles than the last year, Councillor Hawkesworth is optimistic.

She said: "It shows that people have become more aware of the value of recycling and are responding to the Council's efforts to make more bins and refuse banks available for local people to use.

"In the last two years we have doubled the number of bottle banks and handed out more than 70,000 paper recycling bins to households to help promote a cleaner environment."

For more information on the location of your nearest bottle bank contact the recycling unit on (01274) 438883.