FOOTBALL fans are being asked to think about the environment as well as the World Cup by a leading environmental charity.

Rethink Rubbish, a national campaign to encourage people to recycle their rubbish, has asked the people of Worcester to do what they can to protect the environment.

Nationally, an estimated 45m bottles of beer will be consumed by the end of the first week of the world Cup, which if lined up end-to-end would stretch from Worcester to beyond Tokyo, one of the World Cup venues.

Also, 30m dustbins will be needed to accommodate the leftovers of all the takeaways consumed in the United Kingdom during the month-long competition.

The campaign believes the Jubilee celebrations will also add to more litter.

"Celebrations always generate a lot of rubbish, so the chances are we'll be producing an even bigger amount this month than usual," said Gareth Morton, spokesman for Rethink Rubbish.

"Fortunately, much party rubbish, such as cans, bottles and paper can be easily recycled, so there's no need to throw everything away."

He said Worcestershire residents should take their rubbish to recycling centres.

"There are hundreds of recycling centres throughout the UK and many are in convenient places such as supermarket car parks," he added.

"So if you don't want to give your bin collector backaches, rethink your rubbish and make recycling part of your routine"

Other ways of reducing waste include drinking pints in the pub instead of buying bottles, and ordering giant pizzas instead of individual ones, thereby cutting down on packaging.

The campaign aims to cut the rate of rubbish thrown away by 25 per cent by 2005. Currently, Britain recycles just 11 per cent of its waste.