Bridlington residents urged by East Riding Council to rinse food containers to stop recycling contamination

The team is urging Bridlington residents to help make sure the tins, trays, jars and boxes they recycle are completely free of all food.

The council is asking people to empty and simply rinse containers before they go in the blue bin.

Blue bins are used to collect plastic and glass bottles, tubs, trays, pots, jars and lids, cans, tins, empty aerosols, cardboard, eggboxes, newspapers, magazines, books, envelopes, cards, paper bags, shredded paper and aluminium foil.

The East Riding is still among the top performing areas for recycling in England.

However, contamination in blue bins is still an issue and can lead to lorry loads of waste sent for recycling being rejected by plants.

Food left in packaging – unfinished tins of beans, half full glass jars of sauce, margarine tubs with spread still inside, foil and plastic food trays containing leftovers – is the biggest reason for blue bins being tagged and unemptied by waste crews.

Of the 3,600 blue bins found to be contaminated in the East Riding between January and March, more than 40% of those were due to food being left inside.

Carl Skelton, the council’s acting director of streetscene services, said: “The majority of residents in the East Riding do a fantastic job at recycling, so keep up the good work.

“But please help us by making sure all blue bin waste is clean, dry and loose so more can be recycled.”

Go to www.eastriding.gov.uk/bluebin for more advice about blue bins.