The Greene King tub2pub scheme: West Berkshire collects over 800 tubs for Macmillan Cancer

Throughout January, the Greene King pubs have been taking in plastic tubs, in a Tub2Pub scheme to recycle into money for Macmillan Cancer.

Three women from Thatcham, Newbury and Kintbury, Jenny Kirby, Melinda Varju and Paula Smalley, joined the challenge and have spent the past month collecting tubs from across the district.

After piling up in their homes, the tubs were eventually moved over to a local pub to be stored.

The Berkshire Arms, in Newbury, has taken the 841 tubs that passed through the homes of those saving and collecting.

One of the sweet tub collectors, Paula Smalley, even broke down the number of different tubs the ladies had collected, with Celebrations coming out top with 248.

Following in close second was Quality Street, which amounted to 224 tubs. Mrs Kirby noted that a donation from a local Royal British Legion contained only Quality Street tubs!

They received 221 Heroes tubs, 144 Roses tubs, 3 Crackers, 2 Family Circle Biscuits and 29 general sweet tubs.

Mrs Kirby said: “I sent [The Berkshire Arms] a Facebook message and they were happy to take them.”

At first, the pub received a batch of 148 tubs, but not too much later 700 more followed.

The charitable act, according to Mrs Kirby, has brought neighbours, friends and family together, as they all try to make a difference.

“It brings people together to act as a community," she added.

“Some people collected them from neighbours, siblings and friends."

They haven’t all gone to pubs though; many people have been thinking outside the box and finding alternative uses for the tubs.

Mrs Kirby said: “We also had one Brownie group who wanted to collect tubs. They wanted to reuse them, reusing is better than recycling. The lady came and collected them, it’s for storing stuff.

“At markets we were at in Woolton Hill, we started off when we left one tub on the floor, but people came and said can I have one to put my cake in.

“Some people wanted to put screws and DIY pieces in.”

Many people who may have missed the collection and have sweet tubs sitting by the kitchen bin or temporarily staying in the plastic tub cupboard can still make good use of them.

Mrs Kirby has urged that they recycle their unused tubs by taking them to recycling centres.

She said: “If anybody has tubs left, West Berkshire Council takes tubs and pots; try the recycling centres at Hungerford and Newbury.

“Make sure to take them to these places, not the curbside.

“It’s not about big changes. If lots of people make small changes, it makes a big impact.”