CELEBRITY impressionist Alistair McGowan, who grew up in Evesham, earns his livelihood by recycling the voices of others.

Now he is backing a major campaign to encourage people to help the environment by recycling their rubbish.

Alistair has launched "the BIG recycle" national campaign saying that while most people know about recycling and why they should do it not enough of them are putting it into practice.

"Most of us are aware of recycling and that it's a good thing to do, but not enough of us are doing it.

"Two thirds of households in England already have access to a recycling service on their doorstep, so it's never been easier," he said.

The man who uses his voice to copy others wants people in the Vale of Evesham to find out more about recycling and not to throw away things that can be used again.

"All you need to do is to separate your recyclable rubbish from the rest and find out where and how you can recycle it.

"Many local authorities, including Wychavon, operate kerbside collection schemes. When you know what can be recycled it's surprising how easy it is to get in the habit without even thinking," added Alistair.

The pressure for more recycling comes from the increasing cost of disposing of waste to landfill sites which is not only costly but also damaging to the environment.

A typical family will dispose of a tonne of waste every year. In Britain, only 15 per cent of waste is recycled which is much less than in many European countries.

Recycling is big business estimated to be worth £12 billion a year and this will more than double if the UK is to meet its European target by 2018.