People living in the Wyken and Eastern Green areas of Coventry are to be asked to take part in a pilot project for recycling paper.

Residents in more than 5,000 houses will be given a special box to store their newspapers and other wastepaper.

Doorstep collections will begin in November and will take place fortnightly.

The boxes are made of recycled cardboard and are waterproof. Coventry is the first city in the country to try these boxes, although they are common in Germany, which has a much stricter recycling regime.

Coventry City Council has decided to introduce the pilot project to try and find new targets for reducing the amount of household waste that is incinerated or buried.

Under new guidelines the city must double its current recycling rate of 8.2 per cent by 2003, and by 2010 it must recycle or compost 30 per cent of its waste.

The pilot project is expected to generate an income of around £7,000 over six months.

It is being run by Kappa Paper, which is the nearest recycling firm to Coventry, and is the only one which reprocesses all grades of cardboard.

Cllr John McNicholas, cabinet member (Environmental Services), said he hoped the scheme would be a big hit:

“We know that Coventry people are very much in favour of doorstep collections, and I want to pursue this pilot because I believe it will help us work towards the Government’s targets on recycling.

“We may all have good intentions to do our bit for the environment, but I think by making recycling as easy as possible, Coventry people will meet us halfway and do their bit too to reduce the amount of household waste they put into their wheeled bin.”

The roads selected for the trial in Wyken are roads including and surrounding Dorchester Way, Bridgeacre Gardens, Coombe Park Road and Westmorland Road.

In Eastern Green the collection area will cover Upper and Lower Eastern Green Lane and Road and surrounding streets.