RESIDENTS are being asked to donate used milk containers for an eco igloo due to be built at the Lion Salt Works Museum this weekend.

The museum is appealing to residents to save their four-pint plastic milk containers - not crushed - and donate them to the museum before its Dickensian weekend on December 10 and 11.

Christmases in the Dickensian years were particularly cold, explaining why pictures from this period often showed snowy scenes.

For its Dickensian Christmas, packed with free family fun, the museum is recreating an alternative icy scene when it creates an igloo made out of 400 four-pint plastic milk containers.

Councillor Louise Gittins from Cheshire West and Chester Council said: “The eco igloo is a bit of fun, and we very much hope that people throw themselves into this challenge.

“British households are using 35 million plastic bottles every day, but recycle less than half of them.

“This means the number of unrecycled plastic bottles could reach 29 million in the UK by the end of 2020.

“This is a different way of highlighting a serious message about the importance of recycling plastics and other items at a time of year when we are all stocking up on items for Christmas.”

Cheshire West and Chester Council collected 3,541 tonnes of mixed plastic bottles, tray and tubs through the Recycle First service for the year 2015/16.

Plastic four-pint milk containers can be handed in at reception at the Lion Salt Works Museum from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10.30am to 5pm.

Steam engines, Morris dancers and a choir will be part of the welcome to visitors to the museum’s second Dickensian Christmas weekend on December 10 and 11.

Almost all the events are free of charge, including meeting Father Christmas. Free activities also include story-telling and a range of craft activities, including making Christmas cards.