IMAGINE the chaos if every bin but one was whipped away from your workplace. Better still, don't litter your thoughts with it - actually do it.

That is the plea being made to every office and factory in York and North and East Yorkshire by Envirowise, the government body which advises businesses on green issues.

It wants them to take part in One Bin Day on Tuesday, February 21, in order to raise awareness of just how wasteful we all are.

Elin Crebbin, regional manager for the Yorkshire Envirowise, said: "Businesses throw away a staggering quantity of unnecessary waste every year. In our experience, a lot of office waste in particular is thrown in the bin because, for busy office workers, the bin is often the quickest and most convenient way to 'file' unwanted items, from paper to plastic cups.

"Unfortunately, very few firms realise how costly this habit can be, both in financial and environmental terms. We hope participating in One Bin Day will help firms reassess these wasteful habits, and understand the benefits of changing their ways."

Removing all bins but one will have two effects: one, to make staff think about the way they deal with unwanted items and, two, by watching the lone bin fill to the point of overflowing, people will have a visual illustration of the daily generation of waste.

Envirowise calculates many businesses spend up to four per cent of turnover generating waste, and across Yorkshire 1.6 billion sheets of paper are used by office workers. Laid end-to-end that would be enough to reach the moon.

Ms Crebbin said, while cutting down on paper use in offices was central to Envirowise's objectives, "paper use is really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to business waste".

Industrial and commercial firms across the UK create about 75 million tonnes of waste every year.

She said: "I would encourage firms to use One Bin Day as a starting point to look at waste in all areas. Many will be surprised at what they find, and at the savings they can make."

Updated: 10:34 Thursday, February 02, 2006