New arrangements will come into play to equip offices with the means to recycle. Desk top recycling trays and central boxes for the collection of all paper from post-its to leaflets are part of the campaign to reduce in house waste.

Cllr Coleshill (Lib Dem, Peasedown St John), a long time campaigner for the Council to get its own house in order, said; "Having motivated our residents to be top recyclers, we now need to ensure that we too are leading by example in reducing the amount of Council office waste we throw away."

"Despite recycling 32% of household waste in 2004 the Council still landfills enough waste to fill Bath Abbey 22 times.

"And disposing of waste has growing financial implications. New laws mean that if we don't divert more of our waste from landfill then we could be fined in excess of £33 million over the next 15 years.

"Action has been taken at recycling centres such as the introduction of meet and greet officers who are on hand to advise the public and make recycling even easier and this has seen recycling rates dramatically increase to 60%.

"To meet tough targets we also need to look inside the council buildings to make changes and these new office recycling plans are a positive step in the right direction."