AROUND 10% of the districts annual waste will be created over the next few days.

An estimated 26,000 tonnes of waste will be generated in the county during the Christmas and New Year period.

It is predicted that Gloucestershire residents alone will use an extra 134 tonnes of glass bottles and jars over the festive season, all of which can be easily recycled.

Cotswold District Council, and the other five district and borough councils within Gloucestershire, will collect the waste.

They can also be taken to local recycling banks or household recycling centres, which will be open throughout the holiday period excluding Christmas Day and New Years Day.

Full details are on recycleforgloucestershire.com The estimated amount of wrapping paper to be thrown in the UK this Christmas is enough to stretch around the equator nine times or if laid end to end, reach the moon.

Top tips for reducing the amount of waste sent to landfill include: • Using string to tie up parcels to ensure the paper could be reusable.

• Compost the peelings from the 240 million sprouts, 105m potatoes and 20m carrots peeled in the UK.

Unwanted Christmas gifts can be passed on to local charity shops or offered on the web free of charge at freecycle.org.uk.