RESIDENTS are being asked to donate their empty Christmas sweet tins and cracker tubs to pubs to save the planet and raise money for a cancer charity.

For the 4th year running Greene King, the country’s largest pub retailer, has kicked-off its Tub2Pub initiative in a bid to stop unnecessary plastic from going to waste.

Over the last two years alone, the project has seen more than 5,000kg of plastic - or almost 5,000 tubs - collected.

Tubs can be dropped off until February 11 with Colchester’s the Dog & Pheasant, Swan Inn, Yew Tree, Rose & Crown, Camulodunum, Rovers Tye and Kings Arms pubs all taking part.

Vance Fairman-Smith, Greene King’s supply chain director, said: “From the newly-refurbished Dog & Pheasant in Mile End to the Rose & Crown in Wivenhoe, we’re delighted to be once again collecting empty plastic tubs at our pubs across Colchester and beyond this year as part of our TUB2PUB scheme.

“Many of us enjoy a tub of chocolates or sweets over Christmas but as we all look to stop unnecessary plastic from going to waste it’s great our pubs across the Colchester community and beyond can help stop some of these tubs from going to landfill.”

People are asked to ensure tubs are clean, empty, and sanitised before taking them to a Greene King-managed establishment.

All money raised from the selling of the plastic will go to Macmillan Cancer Support.