With Christmas fast approaching you’ll likely be stocking up on the all usual items, such as wrapping paper, gifts and festive cards to bring some cheer to family and friends.
When you’re buying stuff for Christmas, please try to consider whether or not these things are recyclable, and always look to choose materials that can be recycled wherever possible.
Cllr Hugh Jones, Lead Member for Environment, said: “Knowing which materials can be recycled is really helpful when you’re planning ahead for Christmas. Wrapping paper is always a good example to use, because some people just assume all wrapping paper is recyclable, but this isn’t true.
“In most cases recyclable versions will be available, it’s just important to be know which ones are recyclable so that you can make informed choices when buying any of these items. Christmas is a period where we see more of these materials than we typically would at other times of the year, and we want to make sure we recycle as many of them as we can.”
Which materials can I recycle?
Don’t stress – we’re going to run through a variety of common Xmas items to give you all the information you’ll need around which ones can or can’t be recycled. By the end, you’ll have everything you’ll need to make informed recycling choices.
So, lets kick off with wrapping paper…
Wrapping paper
As Cllr Jones touched upon, not all types of wrapping papers are recyclable. The shiny foil wrapping is non-recyclable, so please stay away from this. Wrapping with glitter is also non-recyclable.
Most other shiny wrapping papers are laminated, making them non-recyclable too. You also need to look out if the paper has any plastic add-ons and avoid these.
The good news is all other wrapping papers should be fine to recycle. If you stay away from foils, glitters, laminated paper and any plastic add-ons, you should be able to recycle all your wrapping paper when you’ve finished with it…just make sure to remove any sticky tape beforehand 🙂
Tip: Christmas cards (without glitter and any bows removed) as well as envelopes can be recycled in your blue bag/top wheelie box. Paper and card gift bags can be recycled here too – just remember to remove any non-recyclable handles.
Cardboard
There’s always plenty of cardboard boxes involved at Christmas and it’s important to recycle these. Just make sure to remove any tape, staples, bubble wrap, plastic film etc before recycling your boxes.
Unfortunately, some of us aren’t doing this…we’re just taking our item from the box and not thinking about what other materials might be left behind.
Plus, if you flatten your boxes before recycling them in your blue bag/top wheelie bin, it’ll leave much more room for the rest of your cardboard and papers
If you have extra cardboard to recycle: We will collect clean, flattened cardboard left by recycling containers as long as it is no larger in height or width than a standard issue blue sack.
Tip: Please remove any additional wrapping, such as polystyrene or films, from cardboard boxes before recycling them.
We’re unable to collect any extra bags of general rubbish left at the side of your black/blue rubbish bin. This waste will need to be put in your rubbish bin ready for your next scheduled collection or taken to one of our recycling centres.
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Reusing items
Decorative bows and ribbons are non-recyclable, so if you use any of these please consider storing them away and reusing them the following year.
If someone surprises you with a new TV or Blu-ray player, please think about what to do with your older models. The Nightingale House reuse shop in Bryn Lane recycling centre would be happy to take them off your hands.
You can also donate any unwanted Christmas gifts to the reuse shop. We’re sure they’d be very grateful.
Bottles and cans
You’ll probably have more glass bottles, plastic bottles and aluminium cans than usual at Christmas but please remember to recycle them the same as you would for the rest of the year.
If your recycling boxes get full, you can leave any extra recyclables in solid containers next to your other recycling on your collection day and we’ll recycle the materials (leaving the containers behind for you to reuse again).
But if you do have extra recycling, please separate the materials as you usually would…for example, if you have extra plastic bottles and glass, please put the plastic in one container and the glass in a separate container.
Tip: Large sweet tins can be recycled alongside your cans and plastics in your wheelie box/recycling boxes.
Food waste
Christmas also means lots of turkey bones and leftovers that can be recycled in your food caddy, so don’t neglect food recycling.
For a reminder on what foods are recyclable, please take a look at this.
Don’t forget, if you’re running low on caddy liners, just tie an empty liner to your caddy handle on your collection day and we’ll leave you a new roll, free of charge. Simple!
Or if it’s easier, you can grab some of our free caddy liners from one of the many locations that stock them for us in Wrexham – there’s now over 40 venues that do so! Take a look at the full list here…
Tip: You can take real Christmas trees to be recycled at our recycling centres, if they won’t fit in your green bin.
Household recycling centres
You can take many other items to one of our recycling centres to be recycled. Take a look at this list of materials we can recycle at our recycling centres.
Thanks for taking the time to read this blog, and as always thanks for recycling 🙂
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