WASTE bosses in York hope to avoid massive fines for waste tipping by bringing in a raft of measures to curb the city's growing landfill problem.

Promoting home composting, reusable nappies, reusable bags and a campaign to crack down on junk mail are just some of things being looked at by City of York Council in a new waste action plan.

The city currently disposes of about 66,000 tonnes of bio-degradable municipal waste in landfills every year. It must cut this to 44,000 by 2010 and 22,000 by 2020.

It will be fined £150 for every tonne it is over the limit. If today's landfill dumping figures were the same in five years time, York would get a £3.3 million bill from the Government.

A council report reveals that city waste has increased by 25 per cent since 1995 because of an increase in the number of houses and a surge in the amount of waste collected from each house.

Among the measures which council chiefs hope will cut waste collection are:

A home compost bin offer allowing people to recyce some kitchen and bin waste

A campaign to urge people to use real nappies - cutting down on the huge number of disposables which have a large impact on the waste collected by the council

Launching a "reuse" campaign, urging householders to reuse, sell-on or give away household appliances, computers, furniture and toys

A campaign to lower the amount of packaging dumped by residents and encouraging the purchase of reusable products

A fresh push on junk mail, encouraging residents to take steps to prevent unwanted mail being pushed through their letter boxes.

The council plans to promote its campaigns by advertising in cinemas, on the back of buses, and in newspapers and radio.

The authority has put aside £50,000 for the coming year from its budget and is putting up an extra £30,000 a year for consultation, waste awareness and waste minimisation.

Councillors attending a council environment meeting tonight will be asked to approve the plan.

Updated: 11:17 Wednesday, February 09, 2005