Waste less this Christmas
In Gloucestershire over the festive period, it’s estimated we generate about 29,000 tonnes of waste or a staggering 10% of the years total rubbish during the holiday period. The average family will throw out an EXTRA five sacks of waste!
However, it is possible to reduce your festive footprint, by generating less waste and managing the waste you do have so it doesn't all go to landfill. To reduce your festive footprint, see some of the top tips below:
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle at Christmas!
You can reduce the amount of packaging you buy! It is also important to know that not all packaging can be recycled e.g. plastic food trays, cellophane etc.
• Visit your nearest household recycling centre.
• Why not send an e- card.
• Use gift boxes or bags, which can be reused next year.
• Use a traditional stocking instead of wrapping paper. Unfortunately, the general rule is that wrapping paper cannot be accepted for recycling as it is often dyed or laminated, or contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver coloured shapes. Glitter and plastics cannot be recycled, and mean the whole load will have to be landfilled. The only exception to this is where you are 100% sure the paper you want to recycle is untreated and contains no glitter or sellotape. You could also use brown paper and ribbon to wrap your gifts.
• Why not reuse last years cards to make tags for presents this year?
• Buy rechargeable batteries and a charger for those electronic gifts instead of single use batteries.
• Compost uncooked vegetable peelings, egg boxes etc.
• Not got a composter? What a great present idea!!
• Turkey curry! – Leftovers are great for quick meals and traditional favourites from bubble and squeak to a warmed roll with a slice of ham and mustard. Visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for more delicious recipes!
• Recycle your Christmas cards and cardboard packaging in the cardboard banks.
• Use children's Christmas drawings from school as wrapping paper – grandparents will love it!
• You can recycle your Christmas Tree for more information about recycling your real Christmas tree in your district here.
• You can take your Christmas cards to be recycled at any Marks and Spencer's and TK Maxx from January 2011, which raises money for the Woodland Trust to plant trees throughout the UK. This will be the last ever Christmas card recycling scheme. The Woodland Trust project was founded 14 years ago. Back then the scheme was intended to help put pressure on government to introduce universal kerb side recycling, as well as to encourage millions of people in the UK to think about recycling their cards after the festive season ends. Today the UK enjoys universal kerb side recycling, which the Trust believes the scheme has played a role in achieving. Since it began 15,000 tonnes of card has been collected and thus saved from being dumped on landfill, which has raised enough money to enable the Trust to plant more than 200,000 native trees all over the UK for communities to enjoy for generations to come.