Numbers of residents going green and recyling their waste has doubled in just a year.

Jeremy Campbell finds out what we can do to keep this momentum .

Recycling has been on and off the political agenda for over 20 years, but it finally seems to be entering the national consciousness as an important issue, driven by a national advertising and awareness campaign.

In the UK, we sadly lag behind most of Europe in the amount of household waste we recycle, but we are slowly catching up. More happily, Bucks is one of the country's leading counties, and there are improvements being made every year.

Wycombe District Council's Cabinet Member for Environment, Cllr Audrey Jones, comments: "Between April and June 2004, Wycombe residents recycled 15 per cent of their household waste, but during the same period this year, they have increased this to 28 per cent.

Residents are showing they have a real commitment to stop the waste of natural resources and to reduce the impact on global warming."

But more can be done. Increased participation is important to continue the progress made in Bucks.

There are several ways to get waste recycled, all with the help of Buckinghamshire County Council. There are nine household waste sites in the county, where you can take rubbish, garden waste and numerous other items which can be recycled, like car batteries, cans, paper, bottles, florescent lights.

Dale Anthony of Bucks Household Waste Management says people could still do more to help.

He said: "The biggest problem is that people turn up with black bags full of all kinds of waste. Pre-segregation of waste is the key message we want to get out."

So if you go to one of these sites, it is important that you separate anything you are dumping before, so that as much as possible can be successfully recycled.

"We are targetting 60 percent year round at the nine sites in Bucks, and have managed to recycle more than 70 percent of waste in some summer months this year."

The benefits are obvious, but worth restating. All the rest' that which is not recycled goes to landfill sites, and these are unsustainable at current rates.

Landfill not only takes up valuable space all over the county and the country, but they are considered a potential environmental hazard. The more we can recycle, the less energy and raw materials we use producing new goods, and the less there is to fill up the already burgeoning landfill sites.

There are many ways to increase how much waste you recycle. For example, home composting is a green and energy saving way to dispose of vegetable matter. It can also provide excellent fertiliser for your garden, but not everyone has the space to do this.

Everyone who has access to recycling bins, or council provided pick-up services, can separate household rubbish into paper, bottles, metals and green waste.

One of the big problems the council encounters is that waste is contaminated', which makes it more difficult or impossible to recycle. If you have paper mixed with food, for example, this may make it impossible to process.

The key thing is to make it a habit. If you can get an extra rubbish bin in the house, you can put in clean bottles, cans and paper, and make the job of the council much easier.

For more information about recycling, see www.recyclingforbuckinghamshire.co.uk