Make your New Year’s resolution a recycling one
Parcels, wrapping paper and cards are all part of the magic of Christmas…But what happens to them all afterwards? Not to mention the cans, containers and bottles which contained all the seasonal food and drink we have been enjoying.
If previous years are anything to go by, Wealden will have produced an extra 600 tonnes of rubbish over the Christmas period which will have to be sent to landfill.
But more than half of this extra rubbish could be recycled.
Christmas cards – we send one billion in the UK; and real Christmas trees – eight million are bought each year – can all be recycled.
Then there are jars used to keep preserves: the UK’s Christmas consumption includes almost 5.5 million jars of mincemeat, 12 million jars of pickle and 6.5 million jars of cranberry sauce. All can be washed out and recycled. Not to mention the extra 750 million drink bottles and 500 million cans of drink used during the festivities.
There are 65 Neighbourhood Recycling Points located throughout the District for recycling glass, cans, paper and in some areas plastic bottles. Households on the CROWN (Composting and Recycling Our Waste Now) recycling scheme can sort their paper, cans, cardboard, green waste and for some households, plastic bottles for doorstep collection.
Christmas trees can either be left out next to your green waste bin for collection, if you are part of Wealden‘s CROWN scheme; or else taken to one the district’s Household Waste Recycling Sites and placed in a green waste skip.
“More rubbish is sent to landfill over the Christmas period than any other time of the year in Wealden,” said Cllr Mrs Pam Doodes, Cabinet Member for Health and Public Safety. “We can all do our bit to help reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by recycling more. So please include recycling among your New Year Resolutions for 2007.
“Instead of putting your glass bottles and jars into the bin this year, take them to your nearest recycling point. It all helps to make for a Greener, Cleaner, Brighter Wealden.”
For recycling advice in Wealden please contact Wealden District Council Waste Management Team on 01892 602626 or e-mail recycling@wealden.gov.uk. Or look on the Wealden website, www.wealden.gov.uk .
