THE second stage of consultation is about to start on plans that will totally change the way waste is dealt with in Wiltshire.

A series of public meetings will be held in towns across the county to give householders the chance to ask questions and have their say.

The meetings to be held in September, will be backed up by leaflets and a website giving full details of the proposals that Wiltshire County Council hopes will come into force in 2004.

The first draft of the Wiltshire and Swindon Waste Local Plan attracted 1,446 objections and 196 statements of support.

It outlines the need to get away from traditional methods of dealing with waste such as landfill sites and instead concentrated on recycling and re-using.

Now the new draft plan has increased the number of sites for recycling from 18 to 37. One of the places identified for a small-scale unit to turn waste into energy is at Compton Bassett.

"Increasing the number of waste facilities across the county reflects the way we want to make the most of waste and reclaim resources for the community, and it will help reduce the length of journey made," said Andy Conn, team leader for the waste plan at County Hall.

"We were delighted we had such a wide ranging and encouraging response to the consultation.

"We have carefully considered all the comments and many of them have been incorporated into the latest version.

"We now hope as many people as possible will take part in the next stage and help plan the future of waste in Wiltshire and Swindon."

Every year, Wiltshire and Swindon dump one million tonnes of waste in landfill sites. That's equivalent to 50,000 waste lorries queuing bumper to bumper between Devizes and Brussels.

This week members of the county's environmental panel agreed the revised deposit draft could be issued for the next stage of consultation.

Six weeks of consultation will start on September 9.