Craven residents can now include a new range of plastic and foil items in their blue recycling bins.

The new items which can be accepted include foil containers and trays, clean aluminium foil, plastic ready meal trays (as long as they are not black), yogurt and jelly pots, margarine and ice-cream tubs, fruit and veg punnet containers, cream and soup or sauce pots, and clear bubble wrap.

The changes have been made after Craven District Council started sending waste to JB Recycling’s Material Recycling Facility Processing Plant in Hartlepool.

The new plant accepts a wider range of plastics and metals – so residents are able recycle more of their waste.

Councillor Carl Lis, lead member for Greener Craven, said: “We’re delighted that we can offer residents an even better service and we hope this will lead to an increase in the amount of waste we recycle in the district.

“We all have a responsibility to try to reduce the amount of waste that is sent to landfill or incinerated, reduce the need to use more natural resources, and save on energy consumption.

“Each household produces around a tonne of rubbish every year and this amount is increasing. We need to recycle more – we can’t continue to landfill or burn rubbish forever.

“I would urge all residents to read the new information carefully and do their best to recycle as much as possible.”

Stickers are being placed on residents’ blue recycling bins over the next few weeks advising them of all the items that can be recycled – and those that can’t be accepted in the blue bin.

The information is also available on Craven District Council’s website at www.cravendc.gov.uk/recycling where a copy of the sticker can also be downloaded and printed.

There are a number of items that are not suitable for recycling. These include black plastic of any kind, any bagged waste, any food waste, paint tins or wallpaper, toys, garden furniture, bin liners, cling film or plastic film, food wrappers, crisp packets or tubes, books, and cereal plastic inner bags.

Residents are also asked to remember to wash and squash their items, and advised that bottle tops should be placed back on plastic bottles before placing in the bin.

Craven households throw away over 20,000 tonnes of rubbish each year. The percentage of waste recycled in Craven was 44.12 per cent during April to December 2017.

There is a target in York and North Yorkshire of 50 per cent recycling by 2020. The Government is proposing that this should increase to 55 per cent across the country by 2025, to 60 per cent by 2030 and to 65 per cent by 2035.