COUNCILS like Bury will fail to reach their recycling targets unless the Government acts.

So says local Euro MP Chris Davies, who says local authorities are struggling to cope with increased waste, never mind reduce it.

By 2010, councils are due to recycle at least 30 per cent of waste.

Bury's rate for recycling and composting was seven per cent in 1999/00. The Government's target for the council is ten per cent in 2003/04, and 18 per cent in 2005/06.

Mr Davies, the Lib Dems' environment spokesman in the European Parliament, is calling on the Government to use a "carrot and stick" approach.

He wants landfill taxes to to rise annually by £1 per tonne for at least another ten years. The money would be returned to local councils to help pay for kerbside collections of paper, glass and garden refuse.

Mr Davies also wants the Chancellor to give tax incentives to companies which use recycled products in manufacturing.

The MEP said: "The technology exists to recycle just about anything, and there is a real desire to make it happen, but the problem for councils is that the sums don't add up.

"In most cases, it is still cheaper to find a hole in the ground for waste disposal, despite the problems of long-term pollution and of global-warming methane gas being produced."