A RURAL district council which launched a "dead pheasant" campaign to promote recycling has been shortlisted for a national award.

North Kesteven District Council in Lincolnshire used a picture of a pheasant to highlight encourage residents to recycle properly.

The council changed the way it dealt with the growing problem of contaminated recycling because residents were putting the wrong things in the wrong bins.

It has since been named as a finalist in the national PR Week Awards.

Contaminated recycling was costing the district council £100k a year in landfill charges.

The campaign asked: "Would you try to recycle a dead pheasant?"

It added: "Some nasty surprises have been found by the people who hand-sort North Kesteven residents' recycling: food waste, syringes and even dead animals."

In a bid to encourage better recycling, the council stopped emptying green-lidded bins containing the wrong items, such as food, dirty food containers and soiled nappies.

Every load refused by the recycling contractor cost around £1,200 – plus the expense of having to tip that otherwise useful stuff as landfill rubbish, it said.

North Kesteven District Council is up against Birmingham Children's Hospital, the British Library and London Underground for the PR Week Public Sector award.

The winner will be unveiled at a gala dinner in London this October.