MICKEY Green's new job will involve deciding what to do with 260,000 tonnes of items thrown out by households in Somerset every year.

Mr Green takes up the post of managing director at Somerset Waste Partnership next month, determined to make the county even more environmentally friendly.

He said: "This is a tremendous opportunity to build on SWP’s huge success so far.

"While our recycling rate of 52 per cent is ahead of much of the UK, we are ambitious to go much further in enabling Somerset residents to reuse and recycle more and waste less.

"We have the opportunity to create a new generation of services that are practical, sustainable and great value for money.

"As well as developing new kerbside services taking extra materials for recycling and reducing rubbish collection frequency, SWP will soon be generating electricity from the increasingly small amount of waste that cannot be reused or recycled.

"Equally as importantly, we need to work in more innovative ways with partners, communities and the public to address the fact that, on average, half of what people put in their rubbish bin in Somerset could already be recycled at the kerbside."

Mr Green's previous jobs include working for Somerset County Council, the Department for Communities and Local Government and as a chartered accountant with KPMG.

He succeeds Steve Read, who left SWP in May after almost 10 years to become director of energy, waste and environment at West Sussex County Council.

SWP is the executive arm of Somerset Waste Board, whose chairman Cllr Derek Yeomans said: "We were sorry to lose Steve but very happy that he secured an exciting new opportunity to make a mark in West Sussex.

"And we are extremely pleased to appoint Mickey Green, who offers an impressive combination of experience, skills and vision that will be essential for the task of transforming Somerset’s waste services in the coming years."

SWP has a £45 million annual budget to manage kerbside collections and recycling sites for Somerset’s 550,000 residents in 250,000 households, dealing with more than 260,000 tonnes of recycling and rubbish each year.