EVERY home in the Canterbury district will be given the chance to recycle their household rubbish in a radical new system to be introduced next year. It involves the distribution of tough, clear bags to all 56,000 homes in which recyclable waste like paper, cans, plastic and tins can be deposited for weekly collection.

However, households will keep their normal wheelie bins for all other rubbish which will be collected alongside the clear bags.

The decision to go district-wide with the scheme was taken at a heated meeting of the city council's policy committee. It now succeeds an earlier recommendation to trial the clear bag scheme at 1,000 homes before phasing it in across Canterbury, Herne Bay and Whitstable.

That plan also included a proposal to collect normal waste on a fortnightly basis which has now been dropped.

Both Conservative and Liberal councillors backed the latest proposal while Labour members were left fuming that it was too expensive and could prove a costly mistake.

The city council is under pressure to meet strict new recycling targets set down by the Government.

The district-wide scheme, which is due to start next March, will cost £1.4 million over eight years and add another £4 to council taxpayers' annual bills.

All the clear bags will be taken to Brett's Hersden recycling facility where the rubbish will be hand sifted to separate the various materials. Homes with existing "green" wheelie bins will be able to keep their bins for their own purposes, said a council spokesman. The council also intends to introduce a garden waste collection service using bins and starting with 1,000 homes for expanding across the district.