Herefordshire Council is calling on residents to recycle this Christmas and give the county the gift of a cleaner, greener future.
Throughout the country enough rubbish to fill 400,000
double-decker buses will be produced by the festive season.
Half of this could be recycled but 70 per cent is needlessly
binned, including up to one billion Christmas cards and 83 square
km of wrapping paper and more than eight million Christmas trees.
Britons will also get through 24 million jars of pickles and sauces
over Christmas. If these were recycled it would save enough energy
to boil water for 60 million cups of tea.
Laura Preece, Herefordshire Council's recycling officer, said: "At
the moment we are not able to collect glass through our kerbside
collections so I would urge everyone to make sure they take their
used bottles and jars to one of the household waste sites or bring
sites.
"People who benefit from a kerbside collection should put their
empty cans, plastic bottles and paper in their recycling
bags.
"Next year, however, our new waste collection contract will be in
operation and we will be able to collect glass and other
recyclables from the kerbside," she added.
Top Ten Christmas Recycling Tips
1. Buy drinks in large bottles rather than lots of smaller ones.
2. Buy your Christmas fruit and vegetables loose not pre packed. This helps you buy only what you need and reduces the amount of packaging in your bin.
3. Crush aluminium cans before putting them into the recycling bank as this increases the amount of cans able to fit into one bank, meaning less energy is wasted in transport.
4. Say no to unwanted shopping bags and reuse the ones you already have.
5. Buy recycled wrapping paper and Christmas cards.
6. Set yourself a challenge this Christmas - how empty can you keep your bin?
7. Send an electronic Christmas card instead of posting one.
8. Buy gifts that don't have much packaging like vouchers or gift experiences.
9. If you buy a real tree make sure you replant it or have it shredded after Christmas.
10. Compost all your vegetable peelings