BOSSES at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council are working on a rescue package that will save a green scheme from the axe.

As previously reported in The Gazette, nine mixed recycling banks were installed across the borough in June for residents to recycle items including yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, food trays, bottle tops and Tetra Pak fruit juice containers, in a bid to increase the amount of materials that can be recycled.

However, last month, Recresco – the company which was responsible for managing the scheme – informed the council that it can no longer provide this service.

The borough council has now announced that it is hopeful of finding a replacement company to collect and process the plastic – and whilst discussions take place, Recresco has agreed to empty the bins.

Councillor Hayley Eachus, borough Cabinet member for community services and the environment, said: “We are currently working to secure a company that can collect the plastics and then process them here in the UK.

“However, while we sort out all the finer details, the banks will continue to be regularly emptied, so I would encourage residents to keep taking their plastics and cartons to the banks to be recycled.”

The mixed plastics recycling banks were installed across the borough in a bid to improve the local authority’s poor recycling rate.

Basingstoke and Deane is one of the worst performing local authorities in Britain for recycling, ranking 21st worst out of 352 according to figures published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Currently, only 25.5 per cent of waste is recycled in the borough, compared to approximately 50 per cent that could be.