Festive Facts

Please remember to check your waste and recycling collection over the Christmas period.

The Royal Mail delivers around 150 million cards and packets each day during the pre-Christmas period.  It is estimated that up to 1 billion Christmas cards (17 for every man, woman and child) could end up in bins across the UK.

Recycle your Christmas Cards at your local primary school (Click here for a list of participating schools) or with the woodland trust at Tesco or Marks and Spencer.

We could use an extra 750 million bottles and glass containers, and 500 million drinks cans. About 20 - 30% more glass and cans are collected each year over the Christmas period.

Please recycle your glass bottles and jars in your black box click here to check your collection day. Or take them to your nearest mini-recycling site.

Last Christmas, it was estimated that approximately 160,000 tonnes of food will be wasted - the equivalent of one extra bin bag of leftovers, peelings and preparation waste for every home in the UK

Plan meals carefully, and visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for great recipes for leftovers.

Don’t forget that any food you do throw away can be composted using your kerbside green bucket.

It is estimated that, over Christmas, as much as 83 square km of wrapping paper will end up in UK rubbish bins, enough to cover an area larger than Guernsey.

Wrapping paper is rarely made of paper and is usually a composite of paper, plastic and foil. Put your wrapping paper in your normal bin and it will be turned into fuel and used to generate energy. Click here to find out more about where your waste goes.

Take some time when you choose your tree to consider the life of that tree - Consider buying a reusable tree or one grown in a sustainable forest.

If you have a real tree, don’t forget you can recycle it from Sat 3rd – Friday 16th January at the HWRCs or a special tree recycling point, which you can find online.