THE amount of household waste collected in Worcestershire has increased above the national average, county councillors were told.

Annual waste has risen by 23,200 tonnes, or nine per cent, compared to three per cent nationally, the council's environment/sustainability panel heard.

And most of the increase is in material dumped at household waste sites, rather than the weekly kerbside garbage collections. The increase in waste tonnage cost the county £758,000 in 1999/2000.

A report said that increased interest by the public in gardening and home improvements could be partly to blame.

The new landfill tax means it is now more expensive to hire mini-skips so people are more likely to take it to the dump.

"The situation is exacerbated by the increasing number of people carrier and large off-road vehicles which enables the public to carry bulkier waste than the average car," says the report.

Authorities in the West Midlands have also installed height barriers at their sites, meaning larger vehicles may be coming to Worcestershire to dump their waste.

Options to deal with the situation include installing barriers to prevent larger vehicles getting on to waste sites, banning certain types of vehicles altogether, and hiring security guards.

But the down-side is that preventing people using the waste sites can lead to an increase in fly-tipping.