ANDREW Dickinson will recycle anything, even the hair from his own head.

Now he is urging Croydon residents to follow in his environmentally friendly footsteps and has set up a new website to help them along the way.

He thinks the borough and its residents could be doing a lot more to help the planet, and he hopes they will be inspired to do so when they check out his website, which celebrates everything green within Croydon.

Mr Dickinson, 45, who is an office manager by day, said: "I'm not an expert but I recycle everything I can.

"I even compost my own hair and I make sure all the waste in my office and home is recycled.

"If I can do it other people in Croydon certainly can."

Mr Dickinson, of Bramley Close, South Croydon, hopes his website will give people a gentle nudge to become more environmentally considerate.

He added: "As a borough we create a lot of waste and we need to be responsible for it, from recycling everything we can to what we purchase.

"My new website is a place for people to share ideas and learn about ways to be more environmentally friendly.

"Croydon Council tries to advise people on how to be green but sometimes it can come across like nagging. This is an interactive place where we can show people what to do.

"The important thing is showing people how such small things will make a difference when enough people do them."

Mr Dickinson would like to see Croydon become a pioneer for environmental policies.

He said: "The Environmental Fair in Carshalton attracts thousands of visitors and Brighton has built a house out of recycled goods – we should be doing something like this.

"We should be throwing down the gauntlet and showing other places how to be green.

"With a borough this big we should be leading by example."

In response to Mr Dickinson's call for the borough to do more, Phil Thomas, Croydon Council's cabinet member for highways and the environment, defended its record. He said: "There's been a huge improvement in our recycling rate – it has doubled from 16 per cent to 32 per cent over the last four years.

"We've rolled out cardboard, plastic and green waste collections to every house in the borough, we make sure every block of flats has recycling facilities and we explain to people the benefits of recycling.

"We're doing everything we can but, of course, there's always more we can do and we'll continue trying to recycle as much as we can."

To check out Andrew Dickinson's website go to www.greencroydon.co.uk