Residents in four North Norfolk communities will be get a doorstep visit next month in a bid to stop a rise in the wrong things being put in recyclable rubbish.

Residents in four North Norfolk communities will be get a doorstep visit next month in a bid to stop a rise in the wrong things being put in recyclable rubbish.

Contaminated refuse, mostly containing plastic such as packaging and food trays, that cannot be handled by the recycling facility cost the local district council more than �88,000 in disposal costs last year.

From February 13 the council will begin a three-week doorstep advice exercise covering 13,000 households in the places with the worst contamination rates - including Stalham.

People in the district recycle 46pc of their household waste, but the rate of contamination has risen steadily over the last three years.

In a spot sample of one tonne taken in September, 13pc was contamination, well up on the previous year's 9.5pc.

The council regularly gives households information about what can and can't be recycled, but said confusion remained in some areas.

Guidance is that the only recyclable items are: paper, cardboard, plastic bottles without their lids, aluminium drinks cans, steel food cans, aerosol cans.

The door-stepping exercise was designed to help those residents who have not received or are confused by information in council leaflets and magazines, said a council spokesman.