HOUSEHOLDERS are being urged to recycle their old Christmas trees.

The free kerbside collection service offered by Hartlepool Borough Council started on Tuesday and will continue on a ward-by-ward basis until next Thursday.

More than 1,000 trees have been collected in previous years, and it is hoped that similar figures will be achieved again this year.

Collected trees will be composted, and the initiative is part of the council's ongoing drive to boost recycling levels across the town.

Collections took place in the Hart and Brus wards on Tuesday and in St Hilda ward and the villages of Elwick, Hart and Dalton Piercy yesterday.

They will continue in Throston and Dyke House today; Burn Valley and Grange tomorrow; Park, Foggy Furze and Rift House on Monday; Stranton and Seaton on Tuesday; Owton and Fens on Wednesday; and Rossmere, Greatham and Newton Bewley next Thursday.