A to Z of Christmas tips
You can help to stop your black bins from overflowing this year with this A to Z of top tips.
A - Advent calendars - Recycle the card and plastic separately from your advent calendar in your blue bin.
B - Batteries - in the UK we throw away over 600 million batteries every year. Most old batteries end up in landfill, where they can leak harmful chemicals into the soil.
Take household batteries to -
- your local household waste recycling centre
- a collection point in a supermarket
- a DIY centre
- your local shop
Use rechargeable batteries wherever possible or plug electrical equipment into the mains electricity.
Try to buy appliances that use renewable energy - a wind up radio or torch, dynamo bicycle lights or a solar powered calculator.
C - Christmas cards - try buying recycled cards or send eCards. You could also reuse old cards as gift tags or recycle them in your blue bin.
D - Decorations - pack your decorations away carefully so you can reuse them next year.
E - Electrical items - take your old unwanted electrical items to your local household waste and recycling centre.
F - Foil - recycle clean foil in your blue bin.
G - Glass bottles and jars - put empty glass bottles and jars in your blue bin.
H - Household waste recycling centres - don’t forget to check the holiday opening times.
I - ID - remember to take your resident's pass or ID to access your local household waste recycling centre. ID all of your bins by marking your house or flat number on them.
J - Jumpers and other clothes – do not put clothes or textiles in your blue bin or we won’t be able to empty it. Take them to a charity shop, a clothing bank at a public car park or supermarket instead. Or you can take them to your local household waste and recycling centre.
K - Kitchen waste - try not to buy or cook too much food. Before you throw it in the brown bin, see if you can save it and freeze it to reheat another day.
L - Love Food Hate Waste - check out the Love Food Hate Waste website for top tips on how to get the most from the food we buy at Christmas and throughout the year.
M - Mobile phones - if you get an upgrade at Christmas, remember that your old mobile phone can be recycled. Some companies will even pay for your old phone.
N - New Year’s resolution - make a New Year’s resolution to recycle more.
O - Order extra recycling bins.
P - Presents - try to buy presents made out of recycled materials.
Q - Questions - if you have any questions about your recycling collections, you can telephone 01482 300 300 or visit our household recycling and waste collections page.
R - Reusable shopping bags - remember to take your reusable shopping bags with you when you go to the supermarket, it will save you paying for bags.
S - Squash - make sure you wash and squash your plastics and cans to make more room in your blue bin.
T - Tins - reuse large sweet or biscuit tins for storage or put them in your blue bin.
U - Unwanted gifts - take these to your local charity shops. You could even try and sell them online. Rerun collect unwanted bulky items that are -
- in good working order
- free from tears
- unsoiled
- undercover
V - Vegetable peelings - when preparing your Christmas dinner, remember to put your uncooked vegetables and peelings in your brown bin, food bin or compost bin.
W - Wrapping paper - try wrapping your presents in recycled wrapping this year. The overall effect can look great and all these papers can all go in your blue bin afterwards.
X - Xmas trees - your artificial trees can be boxed up and reused next year. Real trees can be taken to your household waste recycling centre or chopped up and put in your brown bin.
Y - Yuletide collections - don't forget when your bins are collected.
Remember your bins may be collected on a different date over the Christmas period. Check your info pack or take a look at the bin collection date checker.
Z - Zest – renew your zest for recycling by getting it right.
Learn more about what you can recycle in your blue bin and brown bin.