People who live in Dudley borough can now recycle a wider range of plastic waste through their fortnightly kerbside recycling collection.

Dudley Council has announced that it is now accepting all plastic bottles and food containers and trays in the green bags, so long as it is labelled as resin code PET (1) or HDPE (2).

The change in Dudley Council’s service has been made possible due to manufacturers evolving their packaging to include more widely recyclable plastic grades.

The authority previously encouraged residents to recycle mixed plastic bottles only, which has traditionally given better outcomes. Historically, food packaging and containers have been made from lower grade plastic such as Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE-4) and Polypropylene (PP-5), which is not commonly accepted in household recycling services. Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for the public realm, said:

"We are pleased to be able to extend the types of plastic that we can collect in our green recycling bags at our kerbside collections. Manufacturers have made improvements to the grades of plastics that are commonly used in yoghurt pots, fruit punnets, containers and plastic lids but residents should check their packaging carefully and if in doubt leave it out.

"We are also reminding everyone to clean recycling container handles and sides as well as the handles of bins in order to reduce the risk of spreading Covid-19."

People can find out more about recycling and waste collections in Dudley borough by visiting dudley.gov.uk and searching 'recycling'.