Sid Valley residents could see their black wheelie bins for rubbish emptied every three weeks - instead of two - under a district council initiative to encourage more recycling.

The scheme, which has been trialled at 1,367 homes in Exmouth and Feniton, allows residents to include cardboard and mixed plastics in their recycling boxes.

The thinking behind the initiative is that if more waste is recycled, less will go in residents’ black wheelie bins, so they do not need to be emptied as frequently.

During the 12-week test-run, East Devon District Council (EDDC) recorded an increase of 17.5 per cent in the amount recycled.

And now council bosses are considering rolling out the service to the rest of the district.

Councillor Iain Chubb, EDDC’s environment chief, said: “Our residents have always shown great support for anything we do to encourage more recycling, but we have been overwhelmed by the efforts made by householders in these two trial areas.

“It really has been heartening to see the residents embracing these changes with such enthusiasm and collecting so much more recycling.

“East Devon is leading the way by trialling an innovative scheme such as this, and we know that other council’s across the South West are looking very closely at what we are doing as they consider introducing a similar scheme.

“We are listening to what residents are telling us and we will be making decisions on any future roll-out of the service to the rest of the district soon.”

Latest figures from the first three months of the test show that the trial households collectively threw away almost 18 tonnes less rubbish – equivalent to the weight of almost two double-decker buses.