Recycle your Christmas Waste

Christmas Recycling

Over the Christmas period about 30% more rubbish is produced. Glass, cans, Christmas trees, cards, wrapping paper and plastic are all thrown away in dustbins across the country. This year why not make a special effort to try and minimise the amount of waste produced over the festive period. With a little thought, we can all limit the impact that we have. Below is a list of ideas to help reduce, reuse and recycle our waste over Christmas and into the New Year.

Reduce

• When shopping for Christmas presents use reusable shopping bags or reuse carrier bags.
• Do not over wrap Christmas presents; use a Christmas stocking instead of paper for smaller gifts.
• If you have access to the Internet then why not try sending electronic Christmas cards.
• Stop any junk mail by signing up to the mailing preference service. To register contact www.mpsonline.org.uk

Reuse

• Use pinking shears to cut old Christmas cards and make tags for presents next year.
• Buy Christmas trees with roots so they can be planted in the garden in spring or alternatively buy an artificial Christmas tree that can be used year after year.
• Buy rechargeable instead of disposable batteries.

Recycle

• Use your blue bins for recycling any paper, or cards that you dispose of over Christmas and the New Year (you can only dispose of wrapping paper and cards that do not contain glitter or foil).
• A lot more glass, cans and plastic are used over the Christmas period, why not use the green bin provided to you by the council to dispose of all these for recycling.
• Don't have a blue or green bin? There are many recycling sites located across Tameside for you to take glass, cans, paper, plastic bottles and film, textiles and shoes. Alternatively take your waste to one of the household waste recycling centres located on either Bayley Street in Stalybridge or Ash Road in Droylsden for recycling.
• Remember to compost all those fruit and vegetable peelings from the preparation of Christmas dinner.
• When you have removed all of the decorations and lights from your Christmas tree take it along to Bayley Street where it will be shredded and then used to make compost.
• If your area is covered by the brown bin scheme you can put your old real tree out with your bin on collection day and it will be chipped and composted to produce a mulch/soil improver.
• If your area is not covered by the brown bin scheme, Christmas trees can be taken to either of the HWRC'S. Willow wood hospice is also operating a xmas tree recycling collection this yr- all proceeds will go towards hospice.

Support the Woodland Trust by taking old Christmas Cards to a W.H Smith or Tesco store during January. The cards will be recycled into paper products and proceeds will go to the trust.

Christmas Facts

• A massive one billion Christmas cards (17 for every man, woman and child) are sent and could end up in bins across the UK.
• Around 25,000 hectares of Christmas trees are currently growing in the UK - that's over twice the size of the City of Manchester.
• This Christmas, a whopping 10 million turkeys will be sold in the UK, weighing a massive 55,000 tonnes - that's equivalent to more than 620,000 Santas weighing an average of 14 stone each.
• Instead of binning the scraps, start your own compost heap this Christmas with all your vegetable peelings from Christmas dinner and by next Christmas, you'll have free, nutritious compost to help make your garden bloom.

If you have any suggestions of suitable locations please contact the environmental call centre on:

For a full directory of current sites see Recycling.

Contact Information
Send us a Message	Recycling Section Tameside MBC Council Offices Wellington Road Ashton under Lyne Lancs OL6 6DL View local map
0161 342 8355
0161 342 2266