GAZETTE reporter Kate Martin stands in front of a mountain of rubbish - one that illustrates the waste challenge facing Basingstoke and Deane.

This mountain of unrecyclable waste, most of which will be incinerated, weighs about 60 tonnes - the amount thrown away in a year by about 60 households or just 12 businesses.

The Gazette visited a Hampshire waste facility run by Veolia Environmental Services - the same company that collects the borough's waste from the kerbside - to see the scale of the problem of rubbish.

The average household produces an average of more than a tonne of waste every year, while the average business produces five times as much rubbish.

In Basingstoke and Deane, a massive 60,000 tonnes of waste is thrown away every year. The borough currently recycles about 17 per cent of its rubbish - but a lot more could be recycled instead of being sent to the Chineham incinerator.

Councillor Elaine Still, the borough council's Cabinet recycling chief, said: "Quite simply, we have to recycle more.

"We know that many residents are already recycling a lot and we need to help everyone follow their example.

"We are aware that some people need to be convinced that recycling does not take extra time and trouble and does make a difference."

The good news is that residents are beginning to make a difference and piles of recyclables were also at the waste facility waiting to be taken away and recycled.

These included thousands of glass bottles from bottle banks, and a heap of paper, tins and plastic bottles collected from green wheelie bins.

The Gazette is now urging the borough's residents to do their bit to make sure the mountain of waste being sent to the Chineham incinerator gets smaller and smaller, and piles of recyclables fill the county's waste facilities instead.

For more information about how to recycle in Basingstoke and Deane, visit the Green Watch section of our website, www.basingstoke.gov.uk/services/recycle or call the borough council on 01256 844844.