Pioneering residents in Ashby and North West Leicestershire are the first in the country to trial a new recycling trolley.

As part of its Recycle More… campaign, North West Leicestershire District Council (NWLDC) has provided 250 volunteers with a customisable trolley for separated recycling to be taken to the kerbside.

More than 4,500 residents applied for the trial, with 250 selected to put the trolleys through their paces.

Each trolley comes with labels and drawers of different sizes to allow residents to select the most appropriately sized box for their paper, plastic/cans/tins, glass and cardboard recycling.

The trial will run for at least six months to allow for proper testing by volunteers and collection crews and for feedback to be collected.

Feedback has shown that many residents find the current system of several boxes and bags confusing, difficult to manage and easily blown away in windy conditions.

Testing of the innovative trollies will run alongside an existing trial of stackable boxes.

Results from both trials will be reviewed before a decision is made on further rollouts.

Linda Farley, 70, of Worthington, was delighted to receive her trolley as part of the trial.

She said: "It's looking great, I'm so pleased to be a part of the trial.

"Our drive is on a bit of a slope and I'm not as young as I used to be, so now instead of having to do three journeys, it's just one."

The recycling trollies have been manufactured by IPL Haydock formally Coral Products (mouldings) Ltd.

Helen Broderick, Commercial and Business Development Manager at IPL Haydock said: "We'd like to thank North West Leicestershire District Council for all their help and support received during the design process and now the trial stage enabling us to bring this innovative product to market.

"This easy-to-use customised recycling trolley will help to potentially revolutionise kerbside collections for local authorities nationwide. This will assist councils in producing separated, uncontaminated recycling – which is a valuable resource for local authorities."

Councillor Andrew Woodman, Portfolio Holder for Community Services at NWLDC, said: "We're committed to supporting our residents to recycle as much as possible and are delighted to be the first council in the country to test this new trolley.

"We've had overwhelming feedback from volunteers on our existing trial, so it's very exciting to see what we can learn from this new trial.

"Thank you to everyone who has signed up for this pioneering trial as part of our commitment to a 50 percent recycling rate by 2023."