Ealing Council is reminding residents to think green while celebrating Halloween, Bonfire Night and other festivals.

Diwali celebrations took place 19 October, with families and friends no doubt enjoying the festival of light with plenty of delicious food. More celebrations follow soon after, with Halloween on Tuesday, 31 October and Bonfire Night on Sunday, 5 November.

Residents are being asked to recycle as much leftover food, packaging and rubbish as they can as they enjoy the celebrations. This includes food from Diwali that didn’t quite get eaten, and pumpkins from Halloween parties.

Local people can use their green food waste bin to recycle any leftover food to avoid it going into landfill with regular household rubbish. It is recommended that Halloween pumpkins are chopped up and put in green food waste bins to ensure collection, or composted at home.

Recycled food scraps are then sent to a special processing plant where it is turned into electricity that is fed back into the national grid and used to power homes.

Residents should use their blue bins to recycle things like cardboard, plastic bottles, metal tins and foil. They can also recycle glass jars and some food and drink cartons. Containers and bottles will need to be washed to remove any food residue and lids need to be removed. The new collection system means the mixed recycling will be sorted after it has been collected.

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, cabinet member for transport, environment and leisure, said: “Thanks to the continued commitment of our residents, Ealing is recycling more than half of all its household waste, which is the second highest rate in the whole of London.

“We want to maintain these incredibly high standards and improve even more where we can, which is why we are reminding residents to recycle as much food and packaging as possible as they enjoy the numerous celebrations this autumn.”

For further information on recycling, visit the council’s website.