UNWANTED settees, washing machines and a wall cabinet are just some of the discarded goods that have helped make a skip trial scheme a hit with Worcester residents.

Councillor Mike Francis said the four-month scheme was a tremendous success, which had kept bulky rubbish off Worcester's streets.

The gigantic skips visited three city locations on a rotational basis - Shap Drive in Warndon, Liverpool Road, Ronskwood and Waverley Street, Diglis, for a week at a time.

The trial scheme began at the beginning of November and ended on Saturday, March 9.

"It has been a tremendous success. On average, each person who visited the site deposited around 50lbs of goods," said Coun Francis.

"They put all sorts of bulky items in there including settees and washing machines.

"They used it for objects which I think would have just been dumped without these facilities.

"A wall cabinet was put in one skip and it took four people to carry it."

Coun Francis claimed twice as many people had used the Ronskwood site as the skips in the other areas.

The pilot project was similar to an old skip scheme which operated successfully in Ronkswood, Diglis and Warndon, until 1996.

"We are hoping to add the scheme to Dines Green for the fourth week of the month, " said Coun Francis.

"If the skip scheme starts up again, one of the skips will be a green skip for biodegradable waste such as garden refuse.

"This will bring benefit to more people."

Mike Harrison, director of operational services at Worcester City Council, said he could not comment on the success or the continuation of the skip trial scheme until he had reported its results to the city council's Community Services Policy and Review Committee.

"The scheme was a trial - we haven't gone back to the committee with the results yet," added Mr Harrison.