Tis the Season to Waste Less and Recycle More : From a Star Shaped Mascot to Fishy Ideas for Tree Recycling – IT’S CHRISTMAS!

Once again Christmas is upon us. Time to exchange gifts, overindulge, and unfortunately, generate an awful lot of waste. Wrapping paper, unwanted Brussels sprouts and dead Christmas trees are just the beginning. Here’s a look at how some municipalities are planning to cope.

In Hampshire, UK Test Valley Borough Council’s mascot, the Recycling Star (pictured), is encouraging residents to recycle their glass bottles and jars this Christmas. The Recycling Stars campaign aims to raise awareness of the importance of recycling and show just how simple it can be.

From mulled wine bottles to mincemeat jars, the council is reminding residents that all sorts of glass can be recycled at Local Recycling Centres (LRCs) across the borough.

“This is a great campaign that we can all get involved in. We all use a lot more jars and bottles during the festive season, so it’s even more important that we recycle them at this time of year,” said Environmental Portfolio holder, Councillor Graham Stallard.

Eyes Bigger than Your Belly?

Anaerobic digestion operator, Tama Energy meanwhile was keen to point out that the not inconsiderable quantities of festive food that end up in the bin can also be widely recycled.

The company noted that reducing, reusing and recycling Christmas dinner plate scrapings and other festive leftovers this Christmas would divert waste from landfill and power homes and businesses.

According to Tamar, British households’ Christmas indulgence sees over 25 million Christmas puddings and 370 million mince pies over the festive period - creating around 230,000 tonnes of additional food waste, the equivalent weight of 38 million turkeys, and most of this ends up rotting in landfill.

“Reducing the amount of food we waste is something everyone can tackle this Christmas, as the increase at this time of year is quite frightening. While I wish everyone a good holiday, I also hope we’ll all reduce, reuse and recycle more,”said Dean Hislop, chief executive at Tamar Energy.

“Not everyone has access to a food recycling service, but where we do, it is wrong that unavoidable food waste is buried or burnt when it could be recycled into green energy and biofertiliser,” he added.

Shop Till You Drop – Your Waste into a Recycling Bin

Shoppers in Scotland meanwhile are being urged to use Recycle on the Go bins now the festive season is in full swing. Recycle on the Go is a government funded project managed by Zero Waste Scotland which provides easy-to-use, conveniently located recycling facilities in popular public locations to help Scotland achieve a higher recycling rate.

According to Zero Waste Scotland, across the country people are already benefitting from the installation of specially branded facilities for separating and recycling waste.

Zero Waste Scotland and RECOUP, the UK's plastics recycling trade body, recently revisited and refreshed a number of the bins, including those which are in place at three major locations; Ocean Terminal in Edinburgh, St Enoch Centre and the SECC in Glasgow.

The units are used for collection of plastic bottles, papers and cans and are playing an important part in helping Scotland work towards a zero waste society.

“This is a time of year when people will be laden down with packaging, bags, and bottles as they carry out their Christmas shopping. The Recycle on the Go bins are an ideal way to encourage people to recycle what they don’t need, instead of having to cart it home with them and perhaps end up in the general waste bin” said Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment.

Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland added: “Now that we’re in the run up to Christmas, shopping centres in particular will be very busy and we’d like to encourage people to make good use of the bins.

“Recycle on the Go facilities are a fantastic way of encouraging large volumes of people to recycle when away from home in a convenient, fun and easy-to-use way,” he continued. “Providing recycling facilities in popular public locations will also help Scotland achieve a higher recycling rate and bring financial benefits. It is estimated that achieving a 70% recycling rate by 2025 could boost Scotland’s economy by around £178million.”

Anne Hitch, communications manager at RECOUP commented: “It’s evident from providing Recycle on the Go bins that they are an important part of recycling opportunities at shopping centres, schools, colleges, hospitals and tourist attractions. We hope that shoppers will embrace the opportunity to recycle and that the clear signage will help people to differentiate between which materials go in which bin.”

With the excitement building East Cambridgeshire District Council and Ellgia Recycling have come together to help Ely Food bank.

The authority said that it usually encourages residents to put Christmas cards and envelopes in their blue wheelie bins, however for this Christmas special recycling bins will be located in Ely, Littleport and Witchford.

These bins will be in place from Monday 21 December to Friday 15 January and will be emptied by locally based Ellgia Recycling who will recycle the card and paper.

The proceeds will then be donated to Ely Food Bank who will also have foodbanks at the locations of the special recycling bins for people to leave any of the following:

• Milk (UHT or powdered) , fruit juice (carton –long life), tea bags/instant coffee

• Sugar (500g or 1kg), jam, biscuits or snack bars

• Pasta sauces, tomatoes (tinned) and instant mash potato

• Sponge puddings and rice puddings (tinned)

• Tins of vegetables, meat or fruit

“This Christmas we thought it would be nice to help an organisation in East Cambridgeshire which is making a real difference to people’s lives,” said Cllr Julia Huffer, waste and recycling champion for East Cambridgeshire District Council.

“After we successfully worked with Ellgia Recycling to recycle pumpkins around Halloween, we have come together again to help Ely Food bank through the recycling of Christmas cards. We hope the initiative will encourage people to recycle their cards at the end of the festive season but perhaps more importantly support an amazing charity to help those less fortunate than ourselves at this special time of the year,” she added.

12 Days of Recycling

Inspired by the classic Christmas Carol, Broxtowe Borough Council has officially launched its '12 Days Of Christmas Recycling' to help local people be green this festive season.

According to the council, over the Christmas period, at least 30% more waste is produced than at any other time of the year and at this busy time the importance of Recycling tends to become forgotten.

The 12 days of Christmas Recycling program is intended to act as a reminder to residents offering top tips and ideas on how they can recycle all that extra waste generated over the festive period.

Glen Cove, New York to Make Recycling a New Christmas Tradition

Across the ‘pond’, in Glen Cove, New York, the Department of Sanitation is encouraging residents to recycle your paper gift wrapping, boxes and toys of yesteryear.

As part of its Single Stream Recycling program’s the City said that residents can now recycle more items and the holidays are the perfect time to take advantage of this new effort.

“In the first four months of our Single Stream Recycling program we have seen a 30% increase in our City’s commitment to recycling,” said Mayor Reggie Spinello. “With the holidays upon us it’s a great time to be on Santa’s nice list by thinking green.”

Doug Poncet, Department of Sanitation supervisor added: “When unwrapping holiday gifts, keep your recycling bin nearby to collect all of the wrapping paper (paper not metallic), cardboard boxes and paper gift bags and tags. I call it Santa’s Blue Bin and we can each do our part to recycle not only the holiday paper goods but also all of the cans, bottles and aluminum trays used in holiday entertaining.”

The City also noted that Glen Cove Beautification also sponsors free Christmas Tree mulching at a ‘Chip-A-Tree’ Event which will be held.

A Fishy Tale from Kentucky

Famous for its fried chicken and horse racing, in Kentucky a fishy new idea for recycling Christmas trees is entering its second year after a successful first run out last year. Kentucky’s Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) decided to start taking Christmas tree recycling to the bottom of the lake.

According to a report by Inquisitr, by collecting old Christmas trees and sinking them in major waterways throughout Kentucky, the government department, in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is creating fish habitats out of the dried-up Christmas trees.

This year, the department has put together an online map with about 30 locations where residents can participate for free.

The report noted that in early January 2015, WLWT reprinted a statement that said: “Lights, ornaments, tinsel, garland and any other decorations must be removed first.”

It also said that the purpose of the Kentucky fish-related Christmas tree recycling program was to “create fish attractors that will be submerged in lakes, providing nursery habitat for young fish and cover for larger fish … the brush cover also attracts bait fish and algae, providing food for young fish and other aquatic organisms.”

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