PEOPLE used to putting out piles of rubbish for the bin men will have to cut the amount they throw away or find it still left on their doorstep.

Every home in north Wiltshire is to be given a new bin in a bid to reduce the amount being thrown away each week.

Under the scheme, which will take two years to put in place, each house will only be able to put out one bin of rubbish.

The new bins will cost North Wiltshire District Council £1.2m.

The council has been criticised for not doing enough to cut the amount of rubbish ending up in landfill.

The council has to meet tough government targets and must be recycling 10 per cent of all waste by next year and 18 per cent by 2005. Currently just over eight per cent is recycled.

Melanie Scott, the council's cleansing and amenity team leader, said: "We expect to start handing out the bins at the beginning of the next financial year and we will only take what fits in the bin. It will be a case of if it doesn't fit in the bin, the rubbish lorries won't take it.