Recycling: Rushden dad and son's 'no black bin' challenge

Mr Dowsett said they will reuse, repurpose and recycle as much as possible in a bid to prevent their wheelie bin from being emptied for six months

A nine-year-old boy and his father have pledged to reduce what goes into their black wheelie bin so it does not need emptying for six months.

Jake and George Dowsett, of Rushden, Northamptonshire, came up with the idea after discovering how much soft plastic cannot be put in their recycling bin.

The made the realisation while doing Greenpeace's Big Plastic Count.

Jake said since beginning on 19 October, they "try not to buy products with excessive packaging".

George Dowsett said: "I'd like to say I'm not obsessed with it, but it does make you more conscious about environmental issues, it makes you think about it a lot more."

So now they are stuffing a carrier bag with it and taking it to supermarket recycling points once a week

North Northamptonshire Council asks residents to put non-recyclable rubbish into a general refuse black wheelie bin, including soft plastic such as carrier bags.

Some rigid plastic, like plastic bottles, margarine tubs and food trays, can go in recycling wheelie bins.

Counting their plastic use for a week during the Big Plastic Count revealed "lots of our plastic was soft plastic", Jake said.

His dad said: "We were just amazed at how many different types of plastic we were creating and we think we're fairly conscious about it anyway."

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They now stuff a carrier bag with the soft plastic and take it to a supermarket collection point once a week.

They have also changed their shopping habits by buying loose vegetables instead of pre-packaged ones.

"And we started to go to a refill shop in Higham [Ferrers] - and that's another challenge we might do in the future which is reduce the amount we put in the recycling bin by getting refills," said George Dowsett.

"If lots of people do it then it might mean fewer bin lorries on the road, so we're not being held up - because we've all been stuck behind a bin lorry."