Residents in four North Norfolk communities will be get a doorstep visit this 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 this 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 - Fakenham, Mundesley, North Walsham and Stalham.

People in the district recycle 46 per cent 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 doorstepping 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.