REDDITCH MP and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has asked for part of the town's recycling centre to be set aside for people to exchange goods instead of throwing them away.

The idea comes as an off-shoot of the popular Freecycle service which encourages people to swap used items instead of dumping them.

Ms Smith (pictured) said: "I have promoted Freecycle in the past, but some people will not have the space they need to keep their unwanted items while a re-user is found or they may not have internet use to join the scheme.

"So often things are thrown away that could be re-used."

Ms Smith added: "People living in Worcestershire and Herefordshire produce over 417,000 tonnes of waste annually to date, 19 per cent of which is recycled or composted.

"This costs about £25 million to deal with and as the amount of waste increases so do the costs to get rid of it.

"I think this would be really useful to local people and a good way to reduce waste. "

The decision to add the area to the recycling centre rests with Worcestershire County Council.

For more details, visit www.freecycle.org.