PEOPLE in Brockenhurst have been asked to do their bit to cut the nation's rubbish mountain.

District councillor Maureen Holding went to a meeting of Brockenhurst parish council armed with the latest national statistics on waste.

She told fellow councillors and residents that though 25 per cent of Britain's paper is recycled, we lag a long way behind parts of Europe where 60 per cent is reused.

"If we did the same in this country we could save eight million trees," said Cllr Holding.

"The UK is running out of landfill sites, and they cause pollution anyway. I am flagging up the need to recycle."

The New Forest's successful Clearsack scheme has put the district at the top of Hampshire's recycling league, with 32 per cent of its rubbish being recycled - a total of 30,000 tonnes.

But Brockenhurst councillor Moyra Williamson complained that some areas of her village were still missing out on Clearsack more than seven years after its launch in 1995.

Cllr Holding said the recently launched partnership between the New Forest and Test Valley Borough Council was helping to ensure that both districts had access to enough special two-section trucks needed for the Clearsack scheme.

"You may get individual binmen who break the rules," she said.

"The system is not perfect but if we all strive it can only get better."