SUPERMARKET customers at two Black Country stores have been praised for helping to raise more than £10,700 during this year’s Poppy Appeal.

Sainsbury’s Amblecote store raised £6,385.99 for the Royal British Legion cause, while the Merry Hill shop collected £4,318.48.

The Amblecote total was boosted by £1,000 after the sale of popular knitted and crocheted poppies, made by the store’s newly formed craft club.

Following the fundraising success of the Poppy Appeal, customers can also make their donation go further this year as the stores are also providing a recycling service to support the nation's biggest Armed Forces charity.

Before tomorrow (Tuesday November 24) customers can choose to recycle their poppies in-store, via a poppy recycling box at the customer service desk. All collected poppies will go back to The Royal British Legion to enable them to re-use or recycle them.

Andy Beardmore, Sainsbury’s Amblecote store manager, said: “The Poppy Appeal was a great success this year for fundraising and we’d like to thank everyone who contributed.

“With this recycling initiative, we wanted to show our customers another way they can support The Royal British Legion to ensure their poppies don’t go to waste.

“We hope the recycling drive proves a success with our Amblecote customers.

Ellie Failes, corporate partnerships manager at the Royal British Legion, added: “We’re delighted to be working with Sainsbury’s again on this recycling initiative.

“The donated poppies will either be reused or recycled, so it’s another great way for Sainsbury's customers to support us further.”