Waste quango Wrap is to plough £6m into a high profile advertising and PR campaign in a bid to get more consumers recycling.

The drive is the third leg of Wrap's Recycle Now initiative, aimed at stimulating the supply and demand for recycled goods in the UK.

It will focus exclusively on plastic bottles, a major priority for Wrap this year. The quango's main aim is to boost the number of plastic bottles put out for recycling.

TV adverts set to air in the summer will carry the strapline: 'Give your plastic bottle the chance to be something else.'

The executions will feature an array of talking household bottles aspiring to take on a new form. Besides TV ads there will be poster campaigns and PR initiatives.

"The bottles will be the heroes of this campaign," said Paul Davidson, plastic technology manager at Wrap. "We are expecting a really positive response from consumers."

Recycle Now was launched in 2004, and has previously focused on metals and glass. This year's activity will also help to support Wrap's new Target Ten Initiative, introduced last year to help councils improve their kerbside recycling schemes for plastic.

The average kerbside scheme in the UK currently collects just over 5kg per household per year. Wrap hopes the initiative will increase this to 10kg per household per year.

Wrap is also organising a series of free seminars throughout the UK to give local authorities and their waste management contractors the opportunity to discuss the latest techniques for improving plastic bottle recycling rates.

"The UK is still throwing away more than four bottles in every five, so it is essential this is accelerated," said Davidson.

"These seminars are an opportunity to share good practice." This week Wrap hosted the UK's first recycled PET conference, attracting speakers from Marks & Spencer and Coca-Cola.