THOUSANDS of households across Craven are set for waste bin number three, when the council introduces recycling units at a cost of £575,000.

Craven District Council will be heavily fined by the Government if it does not up its recycling targets, which could mean a rise in council tax.

In a bid to counteract this, the council has ordered 10,000 new bins, with separate compartments for paper, glass and aluminium cans.

Homes which already have two bins, one for household and one for garden waste, will be the first to try out the new bins around April next year.

But, the council is caught in a vicious circle, as its landfill site at Skibeden tip, operated by Yorwaste, is groaning under the weight of the waste currently being collected and its estimated the site will be full by 2015.

Last year, 160,000 tonnes of waste.

The new bins will mean even more rubbish going to the tip - the items for recycling are initially collected at the site before being taken away to recycling plants.

Coun Roger Nicholson, who is one of the members taking the lead on environmental issues, said: "For the past few years I've been saying Yorwaste should be investing in our area or building a large, recycling unit somewhere to take plastic, metal, paper - everything left over from waste that has to be landfilled.

"We need to be educating people, the less we put in landfills sites, the better it's going to be in the long-term."

Skipton West councillor Paul English also urged residents to recycle.

"If we did nothing, we would end up having to spend money for not hitting targets. We have to dive in with our boots on and have a good go at it. Unfortunately, we live in a disposable society and the amount of waste produced in Craven per household is high."