MORE cash could be pumped into community waste reduction schemes in Warrington.

The borough council's executive board, considering budget and council tax for 2003/2004, agreed to recommend to full council extra investment into a series of initiatives aimed at reducing waste and boosting recycling.

These schemes would include the promotion of home composting, re-usable nappies and buying 'green' goods, and the reintroduction of the borough-wide kerbside collection of waste newspapers and magazines.

Clr Terry O'Neill, the council's executive member for environment and regeneration, said: "As a town, the household waste we are producing is rising by more than three per cent every year. If we continue like we are now, refuse collection and disposal costs could double to £10 million by 2020.

"As a council, this is an issue that we are taking very seriously and, as a community with so many other priorities, this is a cost we can ill afford."

The council plans major improvements to the management of waste over the next three years as a means of meeting new targets for recycling and composting.

It is also developing a waste strategy, to provide a framework for work over the next 20 years, and consultations with Warrington residents will begin this summer.