Recycle yourself a green Christmas!

Make this Christmas a little greener by recycling all you can. From plate scrapings from the festive feast to all that wrapping paper – most of our waste can be recycled and there’s good reason to do so

We all know that Christmas can be an extraordinarily busy time of year. To start with there are so many lists to write! Then there’s the shopping to organise and all those parties to attend. With so much going on it’s no surprise that sometimes recycling – and the reason it’s so important – can fall to the bottom of the priority list.

Festive fact
● Raise a glass: Glass bottles and jars can be recycled again and again, will always be as good as new and could turn up for you to use next Christmas.
● Revving down: If everyone in the UK recycled one more glass bottle it will stop nearly 4,000 cars-worth of carbon dioxide getting into the atmosphere.
● Let in snow: The packaging paper we consume every year is the same in weight as 50cm of snowfall over all of Norfolk.
● Double vision: If everyone in the UK recycled a mince pie foil case, it would save enough energy to power Wembley Stadium’s two giant TV screens constantly – for over a year!
● Foil the plot: Recycle six mince pie foil cases and you’ll save enough energy to watch EastEnders on Christmas Day.

But Christmas is precisely the time of year when we should be recycling, whether it’s leftover party food, gift wrapping or items that are no longer useful or wanted. Amy Nebel, Recycling Contracts Officer at Peterborough City Council, explains: ‘It’s so easy to recycle so many items from around the home. From plastic food and drink packaging to cardboard boxes and wrapping paper, there’s a variety of packaging that can go into your green recycling bin. It’s not just about avoiding unnecessary waste; everything that’s recycled will be turned into something new, which saves energy, helps the environment and eases the burden on the council taxpayer so that more money can be spent on frontline services.’

Party clear-up
Christmas is a time of sharing and celebration with friends and loved ones. Christmas lunch, New Year’s Eve parties and friends and family popping round for festive get-togethers all mean one thing: fridges and cupboards stocked with food and drink. Plastic drinks bottles and pots, tubs and trays can go straight into your green bin, just remember to give them a quick rinse and place into the bin loose, not contained in bags. Drinks cans and food tins are also welcomed in your recycling, as are glass bottles and jars. Like plastic, all you need to do is give them a quick rinse first to remove any residues.

And, of course, egg boxes, cardboard sleeves from food packaging and your favourite cake and biscuit selection boxes can all be recycled too. And while we might spend a little extra time getting ready for festive nights out, just remember that toiletries such as plastic shower gel and shampoo bottles, deodorant and shaving gel aerosols along with card packaging from face creams and moisturisers can be added to your green bin too.

House of card!
Cardboard serves an important role in protecting what we buy and ensuring it arrives to our homes safe and sound. During the festive season we’ll get through an eye-watering 300,000 tonnes of card. Make sure you recycle all you can! And just for fun, here’s what 300,000 tonnes of card could wrap.
● Elizabeth Tower (Big Ben) – 260,000 times
● Giants Causeway – 1,800 times
● Angel of the North – 2million times
● London Eye – 50,000 times

Food waste such as vegetable peelings, turkey bones, plate scrapings, tea bags and coffee grounds, as well as any out of date food can be put into your food waste caddy for collection. Solid food waste is a valuable resource because it’s used to generate electricity for Peterborough, while the ‘digestate’ that remains is used by farmers for spreading onto fields as a nutrient-rich bio-fertiliser – so literally nothing goes to waste.

Tis the season
The easiest items to recycle are all that cardboard and paper packaging you’ll inevitably come across during the Christmas period. So after the presents are unwrapped and you’re wondering how to clear away the mountain of boxes, paper bags and wrapping paper, remember: put them into the recycling bin! Not all wrapping paper is suitable for recycling; only recycle wrapping paper that’s free of foil, glitter and other non-paper embellishments. And if it all that recycling doesn’t quite fit inside your green bin, don’t worry.

Food for thought
Christmas time often equates to a significant amount of additional food waste. Food that isn’t disposed of properly is very bad news for the environment, so please make the effort to dispose of all food waste using your food waste caddy. Food waste collected this way can be turned into electricity and fertiliser, helping to power our homes and enrich farmland to grow more food. Remember, all solid food waste can be recycled this way. You can reduce the amount of food you waste and save money by taking the time to meal plan then getting creative with your leftovers …

‘Additional recycling created over the Christmas and New Year period can be presented for recycling by putting it into clear transparent bags [not black or opaque bags], while large pieces of cardboard packaging can be left loose next to your bin,’ says Amy. The Household Recycling Centre in Dogsthorpe will also be open every day except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day for any additional waste. With packaging gathered from around the home and recycled, what’s left? For those of us that choose ‘real’ Christmas trees, the good news it they are also fully recyclable.

‘If you subscribe to the brown bin garden waste collection service it couldn’t be simpler – just place your old tree into the bin so it’s ready for collection on your usual day,’ says Amy. ‘If you don’t subscribe to the brown bin service you can recycle your Christmas tree at the Household Recycling Centre.’ Collected trees are shredded into chippings, which can then be spread around trees and shrubs in Peterborough’s parks. Rubbish and recycling collection days will be changing slightly over Christmas, with no collections or Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Look out for a sticker on your bin, which will detail amended collection dates over the festive season.

Season’s greetings
We get a lot of Christmas cards over the festive season. It’s great to receive one and they’re an effective way of keeping in touch with loved ones at this special time of year. But what do you do with them all when the tinsel’s taken down until next Christmas? Most cards are paper-based, so they’re easy to recycle in your green bin, but watch out for embellishments that can make them harder to do so. Glitter, batteries, ribbon, tiny baubles – they all need to be ripped off before your cards can be the recycling.

If you have the time – or are looking for a fun project to compete with the kids – why not turn this year’s Christmas cards into something special for next year? Cut out interesting sections of the cards to make gift tags. Or cut off and dispose of the parts of the card with writing on to leave a homemade festive postcard. Cards may be cut into strips to make bookmarks, or bend the strips into rings and seal with tape to make cheery napkin rings. You could even make your own Christmas decorations: cut each card into a letter then attach them to string to spell out ‘Merry Christmas’ or another festive message.

Food waste checklist

Yes please
✔ All uneaten food and plate scrapings
✔ Mouldy or out-of-date food, including ready meals removed from their packaging
✔ Peelings
✔ Tea bags and coffee grounds
✔ Bread and pastries
✔ Dairy products and egg shells
✔ Rice, pasta
✔ Meat, fish and bones (raw and cooked)
No thanks
Packaging of any kind Liquids such as milk
X Oil or liquid fat
X Any material that is not food waste

Local waste and recycling information
www.peterborough.gov.uk/resident/rubbishand-recycling
Love Food Hate Waste recipes
www.lovefoodhatewaste.com  

Image: www.freepik.com/free-vector/christmas-bauble-decorated-with-a-scene-in-paper-style_1447024