It’s the season of giving but this festive period, Barking and Dagenham Council wants to remind residents not to give too much to landfill and to stuff their recycling bins, as well as their turkeys.
From gift packaging to unwanted sprouts, the Christmas holidays lead to an inevitable increase in household waste, but the council is urging local people not to forget about recycling during the festivities.
Keep your grey bin slim by recycling empty packaging
Christmas cards and plain wrapping paper can be placed in the brown recycling bin, but any metallic or glittery gift wrap should be put into the grey bin, along with ribbons and bows. Cardboard boxes can also be recycled and, if you have too many to fit in the bin, place flattened boxes in a clear plastic bag alongside it to be collected. And if Santa indulged in a few sherries this year, keep the bottle to one side to take it to your local recycling centre, as well as any broken fairy lights or small electrical items.
Overbuying food at Christmas is hard to avoid, particularly with guests coming and going and festive offers at the supermarket. If you’ve overindulged at the checkout, remember to freeze any uncooked meat you aren’t planning on using and if you’ve got an abundance of veg, why not turn it into a healthy soup or stew?
Check your Christmas and New Year bin collection dates
As Christmas falls on a Tuesday this year, bin collection dates have changed slightly. Residents should check when their revised date is over Christmas and New Year on the council’s website, so they don’t miss a collection.
Bins due to be picked up on Christmas Eve will instead be collected on Saturday 22 December, and if your bin is normally collected on a Tuesday, it will be picked up on Thursday 27 December, instead of Christmas Day. All other collection dates from Boxing Day onwards will be collected a day or two later than normal. The aim is for collections to return to the regular day from Monday 7 January 2019.
Go green this Christmas
Real Christmas trees can be taken to the Wood Lane entrance of Central Park in Dagenham on Saturday, 6 January 2019 or the South Park Drive entrance of Barking Park car park on Saturday 13 January 2019, where they will be recycled.
Councillor Syed Ghani, Cabinet Member for Public Realm, said: “Christmas is a time where a lot of extra waste is created in a short space of time. While we want our residents to relax and enjoy the festive period, it’s important that everyone still considers their waste and recycles as much as they can.
If we all take a few simple steps, we can have a big impact on reducing the amount of waste we produce this season. We might not be having a white Christmas this year, but we can all do our bit to make sure we have a green one!”