A GREEN Santa and a little helper will be passing through north Durham asking residents to reduce, re-use and recycle any waste they may have at Christmas.

The environmental message will be brought to Chester-le-Street when Santa does his rounds of the town on Friday and Saturday.

By encouraging residents to make informed choices during the shopping period before Christmas, it is hoped that waste will be reduced.

The district council's environment portfolio holder, Councillor Alan Holden, said: "The festive season sees an additional three million tonnes of waste produced. As well as being a time for exchanging gifts and going to parties, Christmas is a time when goodwill to our environment can be shown by reducing, re-using and recycling our waste.

"We need to change our habits now and make green solutions a New Year's resolution."

More than six million trees were bought last Christmas in the UK, most of which were thrown out after December, creating 9,000 tonnes of additional rubbish.

It is estimated that an extra 750 million bottles and glass containers could be used over the festive season.

The main source of extra rubbish is packaging and cards, glass bottles, drinks cans and Christmas trees - all of which can be recycled.

The Green Santa is advising shoppers before Christmas to keep an eye out for recycled products, from fashionable bags and drinking glasses to cushions and clothing.

A full range of recycled goods that make ideal gift ideas can be found at www.recyclenow.com.

For more information about recycling waste, call the council's environmental services team on 0191-371 1040.