More than 1,500 blue plastic boxes have been re-used by schools and community groups throughout north east London after a glass recycling scheme was scrapped.

Barking and Dagenham Post: A blue box being used as a planterA blue box being used as a planter (Image: Archant)

The boxes were used for doorstep glass recycling until April last when the council scheme was wound up in an effort to cut costs.

Residents now put glass in their grey wheelie bins and it is collected and taken to Frog Island and recycled.

Around 69,000 of the boxes were collected from homes throughout the borough and stored at the council’s Frizlands depot.

The council teamed up with Recycle for Your Community who have arranged for 1,591 boxes to be used in schools and community groups in Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham and Redbridge.

They are mostly used for collecting classroom recycling or as planters in school grounds. The remainding boxes have been recycled.

Cllr Mick McCarthy, cabinet member for Environment, said: “We always intended to recycle these boxes, but the ideal option from an environmental point of view is always to re-use something because it uses less energy.”