People can now take food and drink cartons and paper cups for recycling at seven household waste recycling centres in Cornwall.

It is thanks to a partnership between The Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE UK) and Cornwall Council.

In Cornwall an estimated 450 tonnes of beverage cartons are put out for waste collection each year. With the new "bring banks" now available in recycling centres, residents are being urged to take their empty cartons and paper cups along with any waste or recycling that can't be collected by the council's kerbside collection service.

Centres taking part are Mabe near Falmouth, Helston, St Erth, United Downs, St Austell, Launceston and East Taphouse.

The service is a two-year pilot being funded by ACE UK, with the rubbish taken to its specialist facility near Halifax.

Residents are advised to wash and squash cartons and replace the caps before placing in the bring banks – and only paper coffee-type cups should be deposited in the banks, no other cups can be accepted.

Sue James, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for environment and public protection, said: "People have been asking about recycling food and beverage cartons for some time, so I'm pleased ACE UK are working with us to provide this service at seven of our HWRCs.

"We know from surveys that residents want to be able to recycle more. While we can’t include this as part of our current kerbside collections we are asking the bidders for the 2020 kerbside collection contract to consider collecting additional materials, such as these cartons."

Recycling centres are open every day between 9am and 4pm, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, where household appliances, mattresses, gas bottles and wood can be brought for free. For a small charge, residents can also take bonded asbestos, tyres, soil and rubble and plasterboard.

They handle more than 80,000 tonnes of waste each year, of which more than half is sent for recycling.