THE county's waste mountain is growing by more than double the national average - and home improvement TV programmes could be to blame.

Householders in a Worcester street are to be monitored next month as the county council attempts to curb the problem.

Worcestershire's waste is increasing each year by eight per cent - compared with a national average of three per cent.

"We don't know quite why, but it may be due to programmes such as Changing Rooms," said recycling and information officer Rachel Parker.

"Looking at the sort of waste collected it's clear that a lot of people are ripping out their kitchens. They seem to be changing them every couple of years rather than once every 10 years."

The expansion of Warndon Villages had led to the growth of Worcester's waste, she added.

The county council has joined forces with Worcester City Council to canvas residents in Fort Royal Hill this week.

Around 30 householders have been asked to volunteer for a campaign called "Slim Your Bin".

Anyone who agrees will be given a compost bin for garden rubbish and a storage box in which to put household waste.

The amount of rubbish will be weighed to see who has been the most green-minded resident and a follow-up exercise is planned during December.

Similar experiments are planned in the other five districts across Worcestershire during October, which has been declared National Waste Month.

Meanwhile, a national taskforce has been considering how to boost recycling rates in Britain.

Ideas floated so far include offering vouchers and reward points to people who recycle.

Swipe cards, used when goods are deposited in recycling bins, could record how many times the bins had been used.

But the think-tank has not worked out how the bins could sense what type of item had been dropped into them, to avoid people dumping bricks and stones in a bid to notch up points.