TWO Portishead residents are urging people to put more thought into their kerbside recycling after spending a day on the road with members of North Somerset’s collection team.

Following constant gripes from residents about the recycling operation introduced last summer, Councillor Reyna Knight and mum-of-two Annette Hennessy spoke with contractors May Gurney and North Somerset Council’s waste management team to organise a day with a collection team to give them an insight into the workings of the system.

After observing driver Ray Gilbert negotiate narrow streets with cars parked on either side, the novices threw themselves into the job.

Annette said: “Emptying the bins into individual compartments on the lorry was fine, but then remembering which gate each box had come from was something else.”

Getting covered in beer from unwashed cans, experiencing the unpleasantness of unlined or unwashed food bins and battling with carrier bags used for recycling overspill, was all part of the job.

Annette added: “We soon learnt that where residents had separated their recycling correctly the job was made much easier and we were able to move on quickly to the next road.”

Cllr Knight said it was evident that residents make a huge effort sorting their recycling but doing a little bit more could make an enormous difference to the efficiency of the system.

Their top tips include using corn starch liners in food waste bins, using securely tied carrier bags for clothing and batteries only, washing cans and separating white paper, magazines and white envelopes from brown card, brown paper items and packing such as cereal boxes. Recycling boxes should also have house numbers written on them.