Kirklees Council is to start collecting plastic pots, tubs and trays in green bins from March 31.

As part of a new interim waste contract with SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK, plastic pots, tubs and trays will be accepted in household green bins along with plastic bottles, paper, card and tins.

Items that could become recyclable include yoghurt pots, margarine tubs and food trays. There will be other items too that the council will specify later.

During the recycling process, plastics are granulated into plastic chips and then turned into new products such as plastic chairs, benches and plant pots.

The move is just a small part of the council’s long-term strategy to improve its recycling rate, which has fallen well behind other local authorities.

Taking the additional plastics should improve recycling rates and substantially reduce the amount of contamination in green bins, which can lead to whole loads being incinerated instead of recycled.

More plastics can go in the green bin soon

Clr Naheed Mather, Cabinet member for environment at Kirklees Council, said: “This move is just a small part of our ambitious plans for waste management in Kirklees.

“Last year we approved our Resource and Waste Strategy that sets out a plan which covers the next eight years.

“This includes bringing in changes to our waste management services such as this one, opening a Reuse shop in Huddersfield, and extending opening hours at our Household Waste Recycling Centres in the summer months.

“We have one simple ambition and that is to make it easier for residents to reduce as much of their waste as possible.”

READ MORE: How items too good to skip can be donated at waste recycling centres

SUEZ spokesman Nick Browning said: “We are delighted that by extending our partnership for a further two years, we will be able to recycle even more material and continue to divert the vast majority of Kirklees’s waste away from landfill.”

Collections of pots, tubs and trays will start on March 31 following a district wide information campaign that aims to inform residents, businesses and schools of exactly what plastics can be put in the green bins.