THROUGHOUT the EU as a whole, less than a third of the household waste produced each year is currently recycled.

In England the figure is less than a quarter. We have one of the worst recycling rates of all EU countries. We have much to learn.

Part of our problem is that we have always found it easier to dump our rubbish into holes in the ground. As recently as 10 years ago the UK was sending 85 per cent of all municipal waste into landfill, over 20 million tonnes of it annually.

But in 1999 we signed up to an EU Landfill Directive which committed all countries to reduce landfilled waste significantly within an agreed timetable. Since then we have been struggling to cope.

We need common rules to face a common problem if only for one reason- 32 per cent of all methane released into the air from the EU is emitted from rubbish decomposing in landfills.

Methane has a greater contribution to global warming than carbon dioxide. Our rubbish in our landfills has not just been polluting our land. We have been polluting everybody's atmosphere. We have to make real changes now to safeguard the planet.

We need more waste prevention as well as more recycling. But we will also need to move to more incineration, not just to dispose of the waste but to generate clean energy.

In Denmark over half of all municipal waste is incinerated compared with just eight per cent in the UK. One such incinerator even overlooks the Royal Palace.

Such modern incinerators produce almost no emissions. The trick is to have many small ones, near to the sources of the waste, minimising lorry movements, rather than the massive monuments now being considered by the UK Government.

Small is beautiful - and waste disposal is now a burning issue.

PHILIP BUSHILL-MATTHEWS Conservative MEP