PEOPLE in Bolton are being urged to visit a different type of bank this Christmas -- the bottle bank.

A campaign to encourage more recycling of glass bottles and jars has been launched by Ready Steady Cook chef Kevin Woodford.

It will remind people of the presence of bottle banks across the borough.

Bolton residents recycle a yearly average of 5.9 kilograms of glass per person in bottle banks -- a total of 1,563 tonnes per year.

But with Christmas coming up, campaigners say they are anxious to avoid festive waste.

It is estimated that consumers in Britain will buy 5.5 million jars of mincemeat, 12 million jars of pickles and 6.5 million jars of cranberry sauce this month but only a small percentage of them will be recycled.

Mr Woodford asked people to make sure they staggered their visits to bottle banks after Christmas to provide a steady supply of glass to be recycled.

He said: "Many people remember to recycle empty booze bottles at Christmas, but forget about recycling all the empty jars of mincemeat, cranberry sauce, mayonnaise, pickles and even the curry sauce jar they use to make leftover turkey curry.

"The great thing about glass is it can be used again and again to make more bottles and jars."

Figures from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) indicate that around 700,000 tonnes of glass packaging was recycled last year.

David Workman, director general of British Glass, said 50 per cent of the glass collected for recycling in the UK was green.

He said the industry wanted to increase the amount of clear and brown glass that was being recycled.

"Glass is not only an environmentally friendly packaging material, but consumers prefer it to other types of packaging," he said.

"Research shows that 65 per cent of consumers believe packaging products in glass suggests quality which is why glass packaging is plentiful around the festive season."