AS North Wiltshire District Council launches a major campaign to encourage residents to think more carefully about recycling, Hills Waste has opened another giant hole in the ground to swallow up north Wiltshire's mountain of waste.

The huge pit, 30 metres deep and the size of ten football pitches, will be crammed full of household and business waste and will take just two years to fill up.

Coun Ruth Coleman visited the site with Melanie Scott from the district council's cleansing and amenities department, and said she was shocked to learn it would fill so quickly.

"We cannot continue like this," she said. "Everyone has to change their habits and cut down on the amount they throw away."

The landfill site will be filled with 50,000 tonnes of rubbish collected in the district each year including 2,000 tonnes of disposable nappies.

North Wiltshire throws away five per cent more rubbish each year and only recycles eight per cent.

Most homes throw away four glass bottles, 13 cans, three plastic bottles and at least 5kg of paper every week and it ends up buried in the ground.

The new rubbish dump opened at Hills Waste is the fourteenth at the site.

Gary Johnson, landfill manager, said it cost around £250,000 to create. Once the pit is full, it will be topped with clay, covered with compost and seeded with grass for use as grazing land.

Gas from the landfill site is used to generate electricity.

"Nothing can ever be built on the land afterwards," said Mr Johnson.

Hills won the contract to dispose of Wiltshire's waste in 1995.

Around 120 refuse lorries from all over the county arrive at the landfill site every day.

The district council's campaign Don't Let Wiltshire Go To Waste! is now urging people to think about what they are putting out for the bin men.

It will receive a major boost in the summer when kerbside recycling is introduced in a number of north Wiltshire towns, including Chippenham and Corsham.