Have a green Christmas

Rochdale Borough Council is wishing residents a very green Christmas and environmentally friendly New Year with a festive recycling message.

Councillor Jacqui Beswick, Cabinet Member for Place and Regulation, said: “At Christmas time most people generate more waste than at any other time of the year and we’d like to encourage residents to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ this festive season.

“Everyone can do their bit by ‘reducing’ the amount of rubbish produced, ‘reusing’ whatever they can instead of throwing things away and ‘recycling’ as much as possible.”

It is estimated that we create more than three million tonnes of rubbish each Christmas in Britain. More than half of this could be recycled, so the council has created top tips for the twelve days of Christmas to encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste this festive season:

1. Check your bin collection days - bin collection days may be different during the festive period so check go to the postcode checker at www.rochdale.gov.uk
2. Donate old gifts to charity - make room for new presents and take old toys, clothes and other gifts to local charity shops.
3. Reuse your old carrier bags - take carrier bags and reusable shopping bags when you go Christmas shopping and only accept a new carrier bag when you need to.
4. Reuse recycled wrapping paper - why not keep paper for using next year. If it can’t be used again, recycle it in your blue bin.
5. Recycle glass bottles and jars - put them in your green bin or take to a recycling centre.
6. Recycle all your cardboard - with so many Christmas cards and extra packaging remember to recycle cardboard in your blue bin and plastics in your green bin
7. Buy rechargeable batteries - and help save on the millions of batteries that go to landfill each year.
8. Save on food waste - check out the www.lovefoodhatewaste.com website for top tips on how to get the most from the food we buy and at Christmas find out how to save up to £50 a month throughout the year
9. Squash your plastic bottles - and make more room in your green bin for more recycling
10. Compost fruit and vegetables - compost all your vegetable peelings and by next Christmas you'll have free nutritious compost to help make your garden bloom
11. Recycle your real Christmas tree - in the new year take your real Christmas tree to a variety of locations across the borough including the recycling centres at Chichester St, Rochdale or Spring Vale in Middleton. For other locations go to www.rochdale.gov.uk or click on Christmas tree recycling 

 This Christmas and New Year use your blue bin or blue bag for:

• Christmas cards and envelopes
• Cardboard from packaging from Christmas presents, cereal boxes boxes
• Wrapping paper
• Newspapers and magazines
• Catalogues and brochures
• Telephone directories
• Junk mail (without plastic wrapping)
• Food and drink and cartons (Tetra Paks)
• Toilet and kitchen roll tubes
• Shredded paper

Use your light green bin with blue lid for:

• Plastic bottles all types (no lids)
• Milk/drink bottles
• Cleaning/bleach/detergent bottles
• Toiletry bottles
• Food tins
• Drink cans
• Empty aerosols
• Clean foil and trays
• Glass bottles and jars

Use your brown bin for:

• All your cooked and uncooked food waste
• Your chopped up real Christmas tree
• Grass cuttings/leaves
• Hedge clippings/weeds
• Cut flowers/plant/ twigs
• Small branches