Liverpool Council's recycling leaflets in non-recyclable plastic bags Published duration 2 October 2015

image copyright Liverpool City Council image caption Liverpool City Council's recycling leaflet, complete with unrecyclable plastic wrapper

Leaflets about recycling have been sent to householders in Liverpool in non-recyclable plastic bags.

The advice sheets contain information about a new blue bin being introduced on 12 October for recycling glass, cans, paper and plastic bottles.

Green Party leader Tom Crone said it was ironic and "clearly a bad decision" by the Labour-led council to wrap the leaflet in unnecessary packaging.

Labour's Steve Munby defended his council's actions on waste collection.

The plastic wrappers will be destined for landfill sites.

Mr Crone said the move had "probably been counter-productive".

"It's clearly quite ironic to inform people about recycling with a leaflet that has been wrapped in an unnecessary level of packaging which itself is non-recyclable," he said.

But Mr Munby responded: "Liverpool has increased recycling by about 5% since we introduced managed weekly collections.

"We are looking at introducing food waste recycling in Liverpool but our absolute priority is to get people to recycle things they already can recycle."

Liverpool City Council said the leaflets had been distributed by a contractor.

A statement said: "Wherever possible we use recycled material - the leaflet itself is printed on recycled paper.

"The information in the leaflet is important to householders and it was felt if it was delivered just as a leaflet there was a danger it would be considered as junk mail and not read - using a transparent cover drew attention to the leaflet.

"While we advise people not to put plastic bags in recycling bins our main concern is people putting carrier bags in the bins which means the material cannot be recycled."

image copyright Liverpool City Council image caption Liverpool's new blue bins are for recyclables, purple bins for non-recyclable food or household waste and green bins are for garden waste

Mr Crone believes the council needs to look at ways of increasing the number of items people can recycle.

He said: "The wider thing is actually what's on the leaflet.