This year’s Recycling Week was marked in the borough with a pop-up event packed with advice and information for residents on how to get the best out of their blue and green bins.

Ealing Council officers were on hand alongside West London Waste to answer questions from dozens of local people who dropped to get a bit of guidance on all things recycling.

There’s no need to worry if you missed last week’s event – the council has a range of services available to help you stay on top of your plastic, card and food waste.

• You can find out about the council’s recycling services at www.ealing.gov.uk/recycling
• The council’s @home app makes recycling easier and is the simple way to check what you can and can’t recycle. There is information on your rubbish and recycling collections including free reminders and detailed guidance on what you can and can’t recycle. It’s free to download and a complete source of recycling information
• The council’s bulky waste collection service can be used by both tenants and landlords, with eight items too big for a normal rubbish collection. Collections cost £40 for up to eight items and £25 per fridge or freezer which need to be listed on a separate booking form. For more information please visit www.ealing.gov.uk/bulkyitems.

There are also some simple and straightforward tips to help you stay sustainable and avoid contaminating your recycling:

• Save space – If your blue bin is getting full, flatten cardboard and cereal boxes, squash plastic bottles and metal cans. Extra recycling can be placed beside your bin in clear sacks
• Go green for food waste – food waste can only go into your green caddy. You can recycle raw and cooked meat, bones, rice, pasta, egg shells, bread, plate scrapings, cheese, dairy products, vegetable peelings, tea bags and coffee grounds.
• Clothes on top – We take clean dry clothes and shoes tied in pairs only, place them in a plastic bag on top of your blue bin
• Appliances elsewhere – Electrical items cannot go in the blue bin. We have a network of recycling banks where small electrical items can be taken. Large items can be taken to the recycling centre or collected via our bulky waste service
• Check, don’t contaminate – Make sure non-recyclable items including polystyrene, nappies, cellophane and cling film go in your black bin. Please do not put recycling in black bags as items can be put straight into the bin without using bags. By checking the right way to recycle you can avoid contaminating what you have collected and prevent it from being sent to landfill
• Get your garden waste collected – Signing up for the council’s fortnightly garden waste collection service for a small fee is a great way to stay on top of your clippings, which cannot be placed in either your blue or black bins.

Councillor Mik Sabiers, cabinet member for environment and highways said: “Recycling Week was a real success for us and it is really positive to see local residents working alongside the council as we try to improve recycling rates across the borough together.

“There’s so much that can be recycled and many will be surprised by items that could be added into your blue bin. I encourage everyone to take a look at what they are throwing in the rubbish and see whether there’s anything they can recycle instead

“Ealing is outperforming every other London borough bar one for recycling rates at more than 50% of the total amount – a record to be proud of. We remain committed to improving these rates even further and are aiming to reach 60% recycling by 2022.”

Find extra tips about recycling in your local area with West London Waste.