HAMBLETON residents are being asked for ideas to pass on key recycling messages to others.

In 12 months 4,395 tonnes of recycling has been collected but 11 per cent was contaminated and cannot be recycled.

Send ideas to recyclingInbox@hambleton.gov.uk, or facebook Hambleton Recycling & Waste or Twitter @RecycleHDC or call 01609 779977.

“We know that the majority of residents are keen recyclers who do everything they can to ensure that what goes into their blue lidded bin is clean uncontaminated recycling,” said Cabinet spokesperson, Councillor Stephen Watson.

“However around 11% of it cannot be recycled - in a recent check of 26 tonnes, three tonnes of it was contamination which we then had to send to landfill.

"Just because an item is labelled recyclable this doesn’t always mean it can be recycled through our kerbside collection scheme - we are limited by what our contractor is able to reprocess. Other items should be placed in the general rubbish bin or taken to the Household Waste Recycling Centres.

“We have issued information through all the normal channels – leaflets, social media, website, press – but realise there may be people we have missed. So now we are asking residents to let us know how they would like us to deliver this information.”

He said the majority of people place the right items in their blue lidded bin. But confusion for some people regularly leads to plastic bags, plastic film, crisp packets, food waste, nappies and glass being put into them. It has also seen everything from a pogo stick, clothes horse, computer tower and fence posts to hypodermic needles being left out for recycling.

Residents are being asked to get in touch with the recycling officer to let them know how to make the message clearer - how would they like to know what should and should not be recycled?