Royal Borough asks residents to be more careful with their recycling

A call for people to stop dumping clothes and textiles in their household recycling bins has been issued by the Royal Borough.

About 30,000 tonnes of rubbish are recycled in the Royal Borough every year, of which about five per cent is textiles, which cannot be processed by the sorting machinery, leading to jams that have to be fixed by hand.

Of all the waste collected for recycling every month, it is estimated that about seven per cent is incorrectly sorted, although some months this could be 25 per cent.

In a statement, the Royal Borough said: “We are encouraging residents to take along clothing and textiles in a good condition to their local charity shop or use one of the many textile recycling banks dotted around the borough.

“Small electrical items such as hairdryers and irons also are put into the recycling bins and they can be taken to one of the five WEEE [Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment] banks across the borough.”

Visit http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/web/recycling_rubbish_waste.htm for more information on Royal Borough waste and recycling policies and facilities.