PEOPLE across Somerset are being urged to do their bit to protect the environment during Recycle Week, which runs until Sunday.

Somerset West Partnership is stressing the importance of householders getting it right when it comes to what they leave out at the roadside in their brown, black and green boxes.

The county recycles at least half of its waste - with more than 90 per cent of that dealt with in the UK - thanks to the clean streams of materials ensured by the kerbside double sorting of residents and crews.

But 76 per cent of people have mistakenly added items to their recycling collection that are not accepted and 54 per cent have put items in their rubbish that could have been recycled.

And an investigation of Somerset’s rubbish bins discovered that residents are discarding far too much that could easily be recycled in the existing boxes, food waste bin or at recycling sites.

Among the materials going to landfill when they could be recycled are food, plastics, card, cans, clothes and glass bottles.

If you are unsure about how to recycle a specific item, SWP’s guide is at www.somersetwaste.gov.uk

And district council customer services at www.somersetwaste.gov.uk/contact-us/ answers kerbside recycling questions and takes orders for free boxes and food waste bins.

To boost recycling you can:

•Recycle all the following: aerosols, foil, and all materials usually found beyond the kitchen, such as bathroom plastic bottles for shampoo or cardboard toilet roll tubes.

•Do not put any of these in kerbside recycling boxes: nappies, knives, syringes, broken glass or bottles for chemicals from the garage or garden shed.

•If you can get to a recycling site, you can recycle these: plastic pots, tubs and trays (taken at all sites), Tetra Paks and other beverage cartons (taken at 12 sites).

SWP will collect plastic pots, tubs and trays, plus Tetra Paks and other materials in the new Recycle More weekly kerbside recycling service rolling out from 2020.

And from that date, rubbish bins will be collected every three weeks and the contents incinerated rather than going to landfill.

SWP managing director Mickey Green said: "What and how we recycle really matters.

"Recycling an item means that it will be dealt with in the most environmentally-friendly way, keeping materials in use and out of the environment.

"This year we have all taken more notice of our impact on the environment, and realised that recycling is part of reducing that impact.

"Here in Somerset, it is no different – the number of people recycling is high and rising, so the next step is to make sure we get our recycling right."