Brandon Lewis MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Communities and Local Government, wrongly identified what materials he could recycle in his local authority on BBC Breakfast this morning (3 June).

Talking to the programme about waste collections and how householders are often confused with what can and can't be recycled in their local area (following BBC Breakfast’s report yesterday on recycling contamination), Lewis (pictured right) was outlining how recycling collections need to be kept simple to allow householders to place the correct materials in their recycling boxes, and reduce contamination.

However, when asked about recycling in the local authority where he lives, Great Yarmouth Council, Lewis wrongly identified some of the materials he could recycle.

BBC Breakfast presenter Charlie Stayt specifically asked Lewis: “Where you live… can you put recycling yoghurt pots in your recycling?”, to which he responded: “Yes, we can actually”.

He was then asked: “Do you know for sure.. I mean, I’m not trying to catch you out… But do you know for sure, do you know absoloutely that you can put yoghurt pots, butter containers, the different types of plastic… you know which ones you can and which ones you cant [recycle] for your own area?"

In reply, Lewis said: "Yes, and to be fair, my council, which is Great Yarmouth, are pretty good at educating people, and making people very clear about what they can and can’t recycle."

However, BBC Breakfast later revealed that the council had been in contact to say that it does not accept yoghurt pots for recycling.

Indeed, on the council’s recycling page, it explicitly states: ‘ Please DO NOT put these items in your green recycling bin. The following items can be put into either your grey rubbish bin or recycled elsewhere….No plastics other than bottles (yogurt pots, food containers, film/bags etc need to go in your grey bin)’.

BBC Breakfast tweeted the minister to let him know of his error, saying: ‘Trying to contact you... Great Yarmouth Council says you can't recycle yogurt pots etc...could you follow us so we can DM [direct message] pls?’, to which Lewis responded: ‘yep, wife already corrected me too, mixed memory re yogurt vs plastic bottles which are ok, confirms point re #keepitsimple’

Lewis later tweeted a link to Great Yarmouth Council’s webpage that lists all the accepted (and banned) materials for recycling.

BBC Breakfast viewers recommended a range of actions manufacturers and councils could take to make recycling easier, such as colour-coding recyclable packaging to identify if it can be recycled (rather than simply printing the recycling symbol on recyclable packaging), and placing stickers on the inside of recycling bin lids to identify what can and can't be recycled.

The issue of recycling confusion is a long-standing one, as many local authorities accept different materials for recycling (largely bound by the recycling infrastructure they have in the area). Indeed, earlier this month, the Chief Executive of waste management company SITA UK, David Palmer-Jones, told the Telegraph newspaper that the reason English recycling rates are falling is due to a combination of declining paper and glass usage, local authority budget cuts, and 'green fatigue' (people choosing not to recycle due to confusion/frustration with complex recycling sytems).

Find out more about recycling contamination levels, and ways that recycling could be made easier for householders.