Why you should think twice about accepting a receipt after you buy something

Grabbing your receipt is something so many of us just do on auto-pilot when shopping .

Let's face it, they also come in useful should you wish to return an item too.

In fact, a quick root around your home, bags and pockets will probably unearth quite a few - even now when many receipts are sent digitally.

As necessary as this proof of purchase is, however, these little slips are also incredibly damaging to the environment.

Perhaps this comes as a surprise. After all, they're made from paper, right?

They can't be recycled (Getty)

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Maybe you toss yours in the recycling, safe in the knowledge that you're doing your bit for the plant.

Unfortunately, this is not quite the case.

Around 50 per cent of receipts are printed on a thermal paper which contains which contains chemicals called Bisphenol A (BPA) and Bisphenol S (BPS), Metro reports.

These are bad news because they have been classed as toxic to both people and the environment by the EU, and have been linked to cancer.

Because of the risk of contamination, receipts can't be recycled.

Researchers have warned that shopping receipts could put people at risk of cancer (Getty Images)

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Not only this, but the paper used the most to make receipts is made up of more than one material, which makes recycling tricky anyway.

To put it into perspective, in the UK alone we print around 11.2 billion receipts each year, and 9.9 billion of these go unused which results in about 7.5kg of waste annually - just from receipts that can't be recycled.

In terms of solving this issue, an increasing number of shops are moving toward digital receipts.

There are apps and programmes which retailers are slowly picking up.

Most of us have a lot of these lying around (Getty)

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Flux is a service that you sign up to and every time you make a purchase with a card at an enabled retailer, a digital receipt appears either in their app or in your digital banking app.

Matty Cusden-Ross, founder and CEO of Flux explains why they are campaigning for change: "Until paper receipts receive the same level of attention and awareness as other single-use plastics, they’re going to continue to suck as much as straws.

"While single-use straws have held the plastic-free limelight in recent years, experts are now calling on consumers and businesses to think about paper receipts in the same way.

"Most of us don't think about receipts. And we certainly don't care about them."