Thurrock Council is urging residents to make a New Year’s resolution to stay green and recycle more during the upcoming year.

Recycling doesn’t have to be a chore, reducing your carbon footprint can be easily achieved by recycling everyday household items, such as tins, aluminium cans and glass bottles by putting them in your blue bin. And don’t forget about various plastics found in your home, especially the bathroom!

Leftover Christmas materials can also be recycled, including gift tags and Christmas cards, and if you haven’t taken down your Christmas tree yet, remember real trees can still be put in your garden waste bin. Just make sure you chop it up to ensure the lid closes.

As well as recycling more at home, take advantage of special small electrical waste drop off points put on throughout the borough where you can safely dispose of old or unused electrical items, such as phones and kettles. Each collection point, which is being run by Thurrock Council, will be set up for one day only and will visit Grays, Tilbury, Corringham, Stanford-le-Hope, South Ockendon and Aveley between 8 and 14 January.

Cllr Aaron Watkins, Portfolio Holder for Environment, said: “The start of the New Year brings plenty of opportunities to make an impact on the community we live in. Recycling is one such way of helping to reduce the energy and pollution produced from making items from scratch, and we’ve made this as easy as possible through weekly recycling collections and by running a series of small electrical drop off points throughout this month.”

For more information on what you can or can’t recycle, visit: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/household-waste-and-recycling/what-goes-in-your-bins