Retford Times reporter Sally Clark got her hands dirty when she joined North Leverton's bin men on their round.

She wanted to test run the new recycling system that has been introduced in the village.

She soon settled in to her task, armed with a stick and a torch, delving into North Leverton's blue bins.

But the reporter had mixed feelings about the job in hand.

She said: "Agreeing to get up and do a round with the bin men seemed a good idea at the time.

"But when I was outside in the freezing cold at 6.15am, waiting to meet the wagon I changed my mind."

However, she stuck with it, and helped to examine the bins of the 3,000 households on the round.

She said: "With the arrival of the new blue bins in North Leverton, I felt duty bound to let my fellow villagers know what they were all about."

The system works by people having a separate blue bin for "dry recyclables", which are paper, card, cans, plastics and textiles.

Sally and the three-man crew had to check all the blue bins to ensure that people had not put the wrong waste in them, such as glass.

This was the first phase of the blue bin scheme and it proved to be successful.

Feedback suggested the public responded well and there were few mistakes.

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