Tips to avoid a ‘rubbish’ Christmas

Bins

More waste is created at Christmas than at any other time of the year, so to help you recycle more, waste less and stop your bins overflowing, Rochdale Borough Council is offering some tips to avoid a ‘rubbish’ Christmas.

Mark Widdup, Service Director for Environmental Management at Rochdale Borough Council, said: “Christmas might be the season of giving but it’s also the time when more waste is created than at any other time of the year. Not only will these tips help you to manage your Christmas waste better, you’ll reduce the amount of recyclable rubbish going to waste landfill.”

1. We three bins of Christmas waste – most Christmas waste is recyclable so see what rubbish can go in which bin:

Blue bin/bag
• Wrapping paper (no foil wrapping please.)
• Christmas/greetings cards and envelopes
• Any cardboard packaging (squash it down to make more room)
• Cartons and tetrapaks
And anything else that’s paper or card.

Light green bin
• Glass bottles and jars
• Metal food and drink cans
• Plastic bottles (no tops and no other plastics)
• Tin foil and metal food trays
• Aerosol cans
If it’s not on this list – don’t put it in.

Refuse bin
Only for rubbish that can’t be recycled or reused, such as:
• Plastics (except plastic bottles which can go in your light green bin)
• Foil wrapping paper
• Polystyrene
• Leftover food if it can’t be composted or used to make another meal

2. Love Food Hate Waste – so much good food is wasted at Christmas, so get creative and try having a go at making delicious meals from food leftovers. The Love Food Hate Waste campaign has lots of recipe ideas using typical food leftovers.

3. Packaging is waste – it might look nice on the supermarket shelves, but when you get home and use its contents, packaging is simply rubbish that’s ready to take up space in your bin. Try buying food with less packing so you’re creating less waste.

4. Recycle your real Christmas trees – don’t let a good tree go to waste. Take it to one of the 26 Christmas tree recycling points across the Rochdale borough.

5. Recycle old electricals – electrical items are amongst the top requested Christmas gifts, so if you’ve got an electrical item that’s had its day - such as a toaster, stereo, fridge and a TV - take it to one of the three household waste recycling centres (HWRC) in the Rochdale borough to be recycled. Never put electrical items in your household recycling bins.

For more details on how you can avoid a rubbish Christmas and more useful information for the festive season, go to www.rochdale.gov.uk/christmas There are no bin collection changes this Christmas and New Year so continue to put your bins out for collection as scheduled by 7am on the day of your collection. If poor weather conditions affect bin collections and your bin is missed – leave it out until it has been collected from it.