THURROCK Council has praised residents' efforts to recycle and reuse as it strives to improve recycling rates across the borough.

The message came after a successful Recycle Week last week where the theme was 'Let's Get Real', challenging perceptions and myths around recycling and targeting contamination.

During 2021-22, Thurrock recycled 28.4 per cent of its waste, and sent less than one per cent of its waste to landfill with unrecyclable waste being used in the production of electricity instead.

Cllr Andrew Jefferies, cabinet member for environment, said: "2021-22 was a challenging year for waste and recycling collections; however, our residents continued to do their bit and we would like to thank them for their efforts to recycle.

"We know we are currently falling short of the government's target of recycling 50 per cent of household waste, but we are working hard to improve this and every bit our residents do to help is appreciated.

"We are part of a reuse scheme for the ForwardMotion Cycle Hub Thurrock, in Tilbury, where bikes that would have otherwise been thrown away at the Linford Household Waste & Recycling Centre (HWRC) are donated, repaired and reused to provide affordable bikes for our community.

"Plans continue to progress to make improvements to our household waste services to drive up recycling through the Waste Strategy in September 2023.

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"During this municipal year, more than 1,000 pupils at nine Thurrock primary schools have received a fun, educational lesson about how important it is to properly recycle, delivered as part of the Oceans Together Forum during October. More education activities are lined up for schools over the next few months. There are also ways that our residents can help too."

The council has repeated its recycling guidelines for bins, saying: "Please only recycle the following items in your blue bin:

• paper and cardboard
• glass bottles and jars
• plastic bottles, yoghurt tubs and food trays
• aerosols
• metal food tins and drink cans
• drink cartons
• Tetra Pak packaging

"More than 15 per cent of items collected for recycling in the blue bins are the wrong material or are contaminated with food. Please rinse all food from packaging and if residents are unsure if it is recyclable, visit the A to Z of waste and recyclable items.

"The Linford HWRC can be used to recycle a huge range of items, including electrical goods, clothes, wood, and metal. Find out more at: thurrock.gov.uk/hwrc."