Did you know that by recycling 6 foil mince pie cases you could save enough energy to watch the Christmas episode of Downton Abbey? It’s a startling statistic but demonstrates the importance of recycling. During the busy festive season we are all likely to create more waste and Bath & North East Somerset Council is urging residents to make the most of their recycling collections and recycle as much as possible. A wide variety of items can go into your recycling from plastic to food and drink packaging, glass bottles, cardboard boxes and wrapping paper.
Under my Leadership, as a community, in 2014-2015 we recycled and treated nearly 80% of the waste collected from our homes. Thank you everyone. This means that very little is now sent to landfill. But our research has shown that in the black sack rubbish we collect from homes about a quarter is food waste which could have been recycled. The Council is now encouraging in 2016 more residents to use the food recycling collection so that as little as possible food ends up in our rubbish. If you don’t already recycle your food waste now is a good time to start – with the Council campaign of Feed Me and Win you could be lucky and win a £50 – £70 voucher (up to £100 in Jackpot January) as a reward and a thank you for recycling your food waste.
Bath & North East Somerset Council has recently made it easier and more convenient for you to recycle all your food waste (including turkey bones, plate scrapings and vegetable peelings) because you can now use everyday household plastic bags for your food recycling caddy, but please NO black bags or bags for life because these can be mistaken for rubbish!
Your food waste is valuable – the food you recycle is made into electricity and fertilizer – and if everyone in Bath and North East Somerset recycled all their food waste it would provide enough electricity to power 1,139 homes for a year.
For more information on the Feed Me and Win campaign visit: www.feedmeandwin.co.uk
Christmas recycling reminders
Green box for recycling your:
- Greetings cards, wrapping paper (white backed , non-foil) and gift tags
- Glass bottles and jars including mincemeat and cranberry sauce
- Plastic bottles tubs and trays including cream pots and fruit trays, shampoo bottles (NO black plastic, plastic film or polystyrene please)
- Foil including mince pie and quiche cases and takeaway trays
- Cans, tins and aerosols including biscuit and sweet tins.
Blue bag for recycling your cardboard packaging, brown paper and food and drink cartons.
Small broken or unwanted electricals – including fairy lights, hairdryers and drills, please put in a plastic bag next to your green box for recycling.
For tips on how you can waste less and recycle more this Christmas visit our web page How to have a greener Christmas
Christmas day and New Year day recycling and rubbish collection changes
There are no collections on these bank holidays and the revised collection day will be Saturday 2 January.
Garden waste and Christmas tree collections
There are no garden waste collections for 2 weeks from Friday 25 December to Thursday 7 January 2016. Normal collections will begin from Friday 8 January. From 8 to 29 January 2016 we will collect your real Christmas tree for free during our fortnightly garden waste collection service. The trees will be composted. Please:
- Cut up your tree if it is more than 1.2 metres tall so that it will fit into our vehicle.
- Remove any decorations first, including the pot.
- Put it out for collection at the edge of your property so our crews can easily see it on your garden waste collection day.
Recycling Centres
Closed on Christmas day (25 December), Boxing Day (26 December) and New Year’s Day (1 January)
If we experience extreme bad weather this winter please check our website and local radio stations for updates to collections www.bathnes.gov.uk/wasteservices.