Christmas in Caerphilly

2009

Recycling Christmas cards

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Christmas - the most wonderful time of the year, as the song goes. But it can also be the most wasteful time, as our bins fill up with Christmas leftovers, trees and cards.

So this year Caerphilly County Borough Council has teamed up with Waste Awareness Wales to advise people in Caerphilly how they can reduce the amount of waste we throw away over the festive season.

It’s not hard to see how our bins can quickly fill up at Christmas - but there are plenty of simple actions we can take to reduce the amount we throw away. From recycling your Christmas cards to making the most of the leftover turkey, we can all do our bit to help reduce the amount we send to landfill and protect the beauty of Wales for generations to come.

Waste Awareness Wales’ tips for reducing waste in Caerphilly:

  • Every year in Wales we throw out 350,000 tonnes of food which rots in landfill sites, releasing the greenhouse gas methane. Make the most of your leftovers - turkey can go into risottos, curries and salads, and vegetables can be put into soups and stews.
  • Even food that never made it to the table can avoid the bin. Vegetable peelings, orange rinds - even tea bags and eggshells - can all be composted. Scrunched-up paper, card or cardboard and Christmas flowers can also go into your compost bin.
  • Buy recyclable/recycled paper - or use brown paper and tie with reusable ribbons. If you use sticky tape, take all the tape off before recycling.
  • Try sending e-cards for festive greetings and thank you messages to reduce card waste - visit www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk to send your free e-cards.
  • When doing your Christmas shopping, take a reusable cloth bag or ‘bag for life’ with you - say no to plastic carrier bags which take hundreds of years to break down in landfill.
  • When Christmas is over, even the tree can be recycled! Real Christmas trees can be collected with your normal weekly recycling collections or taken to any of Caerphilly’s 6 Household waste recycling centres where they will be collected for composting.
  • Don’t forget to recycle any cards you get - from 2-31 January 2008, The Woodland Trust will be collecting cards at WHSmith, Tesco, TK Maxx and Marks and Spencer for recycling. Try making gift tags for next year from the pictures on the front as well.
  • Even the plastic wrappings from the Christmas chocolates can be reused - challenge children to use them in a festive collage.
  • Make Christmas parties eco-parties; avoid disposable plates and cups and recycle any cans or bottles.
  • And don’t forget to recycle all your newspapers, magazines and TV guides.

To learn more about how you can help future generations by reducing, reusing and recycling your waste please visit the website at www.wasteawarenesswales.org.uk