Clean up with pay-outs for your rubbish; Families encouraged to recycle.

Byline: LAURA SHARPE

AROUND 10,000 homes will start earning cash for recycling their rubbish.

Halton Council has become the first in the North West and only the second council in the country to offer rewards for a recycling pilot scheme starting this week.

It means residents will be able to earn on average pounds 150 of high street vouchers per year simply by putting paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and metal in a single blue recycling bin.

From today, chips attached to bins across the pilot areas will be read every time they are emptied and earn points.

Residents now have the option to register for the free, voluntary RecycleBank scheme so they can start turning their points into vouchers or charity donations.

They will be able to track how many points they have collected and can opt out of the scheme at any time.

Cllr Phil Harris, executive board member for recycling, said: "We have always believed in encouraging people to recycle and this new scheme rewards those who choose to do so."

READ For more The pilot scheme will run for six months within the wards of Daresbury, Grange, Heath, www.echo./ Halton Castle, Broadheath, Hough Green and Halton View.

The scheme is only designed to reward kerbside recycling, so doesn't apply to black bins used for weekly collections of general waste.

The pilot follows the success of the first UK scheme in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.

Matthew Tucker, president of RecycleBank, said: "Everyone can participate in recycling and have a positive effect on the environment."

RecycleBank serves one million people in the US and has expanded into the UK.

MORE environmental news: liverpool co.uk itsourworld It was designated as a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environment Programme in April 2009.