The recycling efforts of Wiltshire residents are being celebrated this week as a national campaign encourages people to save items from being binned unnecessarily.

Wiltshire Council is joining this year's Recycle Week, which runs from October 14 to 20, to commend the county's recycling efforts.

Now in its 21st year, Recycle Week, organised by Recycle Now, is the UK's biggest celebration of recycling, with activities to increase recycling taking place across the country.

For Recycle Week 2024, Wiltshire Council is on a mission to save packaging from being put in the general waste bin.

The latest Recycle Now research shows while nine out of 10 people regularly recycle, nearly eight out of 10 put one or more items into the bin that could have been recycled.

To highlight this, the organisation has created a team of characters to bring the campaign to life and is asking everyone to ‘Rescue Me - Recycle’.

The characters are Dee Dee the deodorant, Rey the plastic trigger spray, Yogi the yoghurt pot, and Hube the toilet roll tube.

The group will feature on recycling in school education packs and on social media.

Life-size characters have been produced to highlight the key message and will feature in media throughout Recycle Week.

Councillor Dominic Muns, cabinet member for waste and environment, said: "In the last financial year, we recycled, reused, or composted 43.7 per cent of Wiltshire’s household waste.

"Thanks to your efforts, that is nearly a four per cent increase from the previous financial year."

He added: "We are delighted to be supporting the Recycle Week campaign as it highlights some of the common items placed in general waste which could have been recycled.

"This is a key element of our ongoing Recycling: Let’s Sort It campaign. We will collect empty aerosols, yoghurt pots, toilet roll tubes, cleaning spray bottles, and cans from your blue-lidded bin or bag.

"Glass bottles and jars should go in your black box."

Craig Stephens, senior campaign manager for Recycle Now, added: "We are delighted that Wiltshire Council is supporting Recycle Week.

"While a light-hearted campaign, recycling is essential to limit the impact of what we buy has on the environment.

"Keeping these materials circulating means we can reduce emissions linked with our weekly shop.

"Most people are recycling, and the material we capture has a multitude of uses, so the next step is to ensure everyone captures everything they can."