Video: how we all can save £3 million

West Sussex residents are being asked to help save £3m.
Can you do more recycling?Can you do more recycling?
Can you do more recycling?

The county council says that on average, a fifth of household rubbish bins are filled with recycling. And the cost is huge.

Over one year, throwing away all that recycling is costing £3m a year that we don’t need to be spending.

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West Sussex County Council is launching its ‘Think Before You Throw’ campaign to help residents make some quick wins and ultimately save the County Council money to put back into core services.

Can you do more recycling?Can you do more recycling?
Can you do more recycling?

So what items are getting missed?

- Aerosols

- Tin foil

- Trigger sprays (e.g kitchen and bathroom cleaners)

- Glass jars

- Food containers (e.g plastic fruit/vegetable trays, yoghurt and ice-cream tubs)

- Squeezy bottles (e.g. tomato ketchup)

- Plastic pill packets (e.g. headache/hay fever tablets)

The County Council went through thousands and thousands of bags of rubbish to see exactly what ended up in people’s bins.

The fifth that gets thrown away, which is recyclable, adds up to 32,000 tonnes a year – a mountain of waste which could be avoided.

Waste costs. Recycling earns.

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West Sussex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Deborah Urquhart, said: “This is so simple.

“We know in West Sussex there are huge numbers of residents who are doing a great job recycling.

“It’s just people don’t realise the extra items you can put in your recycling.

“So empty aerosols, tin foil, trigger sprays, glass jars, drink containers, squeezy ketchup bottles, empty packets of Nurofen, they can all go in.

“If they need washing, all you need to do is rinse them out.

“They don’t need to be spotless.

“Then put them in the recycling bin loose, not in plastic bags, and help save millions of pounds as well.”