'Newport loves its chocolate!' Councillor overwhelmed with empty tubs after call to support Macmillan charity appeal

Councillor Peter Scott had called on the people of Newport to support the Tub2Pub campaign.

The Greene King campaign collects and recycles empty confectionery and biscuit tubs, selling the shredded plastic to manufacturers and sending the proceeds to Macmillan Cancer Support.

In 2025, the pub chain collected more than 240,000 tubs, weighing in at a record-breaking 27,990 kg of plastic - more than all previous years combined.

Rallying the troops to support the cause in Newport, Councillor Scott offered to take residents' Christmas leftovers to a donation site. 

Expecting a couple of dozen, Councillor Scott said he was floored as his kitchen table became piled high with more and more tubs. In the end, more than 250 tubs were collected for the campaign.

"I asked if anyone else had any, now I've got 279!" he said.

"I thought by asking others I'd get around 30. I'm stunned by the response. It's great to see so many involved. Newport loves its chocolate!" 

While Mr Scott has completed his drop-off, Greene King's campaign is running until February 15. 

A spokesperson for the chain said: "We’re all guilty of indulging in chocolate, sweets and crackers over the festive period, and in the UK we are buying tens of millions of these plastic tubs every year!

"Many kerbside recycling collections will not accept these polypropylene tubs, so Tub2Pub is a recycling solution that stops them ending up in landfill.

"All tubs will be collected and taken to a plastic reprocessing centre where they’re shredded, before being sold onto plastic manufacturers to use in place of virgin plastics. 

"All money raised from the sale of Tub2Pub plastics will be given directly to Macmillan Cancer Support."

Residents are asked to bring their clean, empty plastic confectionery and cracker tubs to any Greene King managed site until February 15.