Worcestershire residents can recycle more waste after council expands list of items allowed in green bins

Worcestershire residents can now recycle a lot more of their household waste after the county council expanded the number of items allowed in their green bins.

Aluminium foil and plastic tubes are the latest items which can now be collected and recycled along with paper and card, glass bottles and jars, cartons, metal food and drink cans, aerosols, and plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays.

Worcestershire County Council hopes the new system will improve the percentage of household waste recycled which will benefit the environment and see less rubbish sent to landfill.

Councillor Ian Cresswell, the council's cabinet member with responsibility for environment, said: “The changes mean residents can now recycle a wider range of everyday items from home, using their existing green bin.

"By accepting aluminium foil and plastic tubes, recycling collections will be clearer and more consistent across the county.”

The council also wants to reduce confusion and encourage more people to recycle correctly.

Items now acceptable in the green bin include kitchen foil and foil trays, as well as plastic tubes including toothpaste and cosmetic tubes, in their green bin.

Bins should be placed out as usual on normal collection days, and residents living in flats can also take part by using clearly labelled communal recycling bins.

Household recyclable waste is sorted at EnviroSort, Worcestershire County Council’s Materials Recycling Facility in Norton, before being sent to UK reprocessing facilities where they are cleaned and transformed into new products.

Recycling saves energy, conserves natural resources and helps keep valuable items out of landfill or energy-from-waste facilities.

To find out more about what you can recycle and how, visit www.letswasteless.com.