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In July, Lichfield District Council launched a plastic bag recycling trial to around 2,500 homes across parts of Burntwood and Chase Terrace. If successful, the District Council plans to introduce the service to homes across the whole district in the near future.

The householders taking part of the trial have been busy collecting their plastic carrier bags into one bag, and then placing them underneath their stacked up recycling boxes, so they can be taken away and recycled into new carrier bags.

Christine Cole, Lichfield District Council's Recycling Officer, said:
"It's our aim to reduce the amount of plastic carrier bags in circulation, which is why we promote using canvas bags, or reusing plastic bags. However, we're aware many people still use plastic bags, and so we're working to reduce the vast quantities ending up in landfill. This is why we're trialling kerbside plastic bag recycling.

"We've been overwhelmed by the response from the 2,500 homes taking part. In our first week we collected the equivalent of nine wheelie bins full of compressed plastic bags."

Once the bags have been collected by Lichfield District Council's Operational Services Recycling crews, they are passed to Euro Packaging who use the plastic to create carrier bags and plastic sacks for supermarkets across the UK.

Adam Dickinson, Research and Development Director for Euro Packaging, added:
"The introduction of recycled materials into carrier bags has been a major initiative of Euro Packaging to reduce the environmental footprint of plastic bags. Our partnership with Lichfield District Council closes the loop with the consumer, who can now responsibly dispose of their plastic bags once they have been reused."