People putting cardboard and plastic bottles into the wrong bin have been blamed for a county having some of the highest waste figures in England.
The average person living in the Cumberland Council area threw away 460.8kg (0.46 tonnes) of household waste in the 2023-24 financial year, while those in Westmorland and Furness threw away 460.2kg.
The figures, which are the most recent available, are the seventh and eighth highest in the country.
The councils said they were “still seeing paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and glass” in their “residual waste stream” and would be writing to residents to clarify misconceptions about what could be recycled.