TONNES of recyclable plastic will be saved from ending up in landfill sites thanks to environmentally-minded residents of Winkleigh embracing a new recycling scheme.

The village held its first monthly recycling collection on Saturday, January 5 with the support of Peninsula Waste Savers of North Tawton.

Eighteen months ago a group of villagers came together to set up an environmental group for Winkleigh. Part of their initiative was to increase the level of recycling in the village.

Winkleigh's kerbside recycling is collected by South Molton Recycle, in partnership with Torridge District Council. Plastic bottles, tins and glass bottles are among the items collected, but some plastics, such as yogurt pots and margerine tubs, are not.

Over the past 18 months, the environmental group volunteers have run a trial scheme to collect items, mainly plastics, which are not currently taken in the kerbside green boxes. Villagers have embraced the scheme with enthusiasm, saving almost two tonnes of plastics from going to landfill sites.

One of the volunteers, Philippa Lausen, said: 'Winkleigh has shown its commitment to increasing its recycling rates and we hope that this new monthly event will be well supported.

'One advantage of a monthly supervised collection will be that a greater range of items can be collected, such as DVDs, CDs, videos, and their plastic cases.

'It is difficult to find places to recycle these sort of things, and bringing the service to people is great. PWS have been brilliant, making the collections free of charge and helping us save nearly two tonnes of plastic from going to landfill.

'The villagers have been great too. Once people realise how much can be saved from going to landfill in this way, they have been enthusiastic and happy to get involved.'

The items collected at the monthly collections will diversify, to include items that can be recycled in the green boxes, like milk bottles and food cans. The team is also looking to run workshops for children about recycling and showing them how to use recycled products, and turn the monthly collections into a more social event.

Future collections will take place from 9am to 11am in Winkleigh Community Centre car park on the first Saturday of each month.