Less than half of Scottish households recycle. Environ- ment Secretary Richard Lochhead, speaking at the Scottish Waste and Resources Conference, said £1.2m had been made available to help councils hit the target of getting 50% of households to recycle.

Scotland's recycling rate is below 44%, although seven local authorities are thought to have topped the 50% target.

The cash will fund improvements to household waste recycling centres and help increase the collection of glass from households. It will be administered by Zero Waste Scotland.

This is in addition to £5m already made available this year to support household food waste collections.

Mr Lochhead said: "Raising our recycling rates is also about a much bigger prize. It is about keeping valuable materials circulating in our economy."

Iain Gulland, director of Zero Waste Scotland, said: "We believe we can make a real difference in a short space of time, helping people to recycle more things, more often."