The council shares this latest news. Ed
The festive season is rapidly approaching and the Isle of Wight Council, in partnership with Amey, would like to wish a merry Christmas to all of you on the Island and inform residents of the changes to the household recycling and waste collections on Christmas Week (Monday 26 to Saturday 31 December 2016).
If your collection day is normally:
Monday:
it will be collected on Tuesday 27 DecemberTuesday:
it will be collected on Wednesday 28 DecemberWednesday:
it will be collected on Thursday 29 DecemberThursday:
it will be collected on Friday 30 DecemberFriday:
it will be collected on Saturday 31 December
All recycling and waste collections will return to normal from Monday 2nd January 2017. Please remember to set out your Wheeled Bins/Gull Sacks and food waste by 7am on the day of your collection.
Paper and Card Recycling
Did you know that last Christmas in the UK we consumed close to 300,000 tonnes of card packaging? That’s enough to cover Big Ben nearly 260,000 times! The problem is – if we don’t recycle it, precious resources and energy will be wasted.
Whether eating, gift-giving or celebrating with family and friends; you can guarantee that up and down the country lots of paper and card will be exchanged along the way this Christmas.
Just think: buying a gift could involve online delivery card packaging, wrapping paper, the Christmas card and tag you sent with it and the cardboard packaging containing the gift itself – that’s just one gift for one person! Plus when we consider that 20% of the whole year’s sales are made at Christmas that’s an overwhelming amount of paper, and card potentially going in the bin.
Hark! Concerned about not recycling properly?
Here are some top tips for recycling commonly wasted paper and card at Christmas in the right way:
Gifts galore
- Christmas cards that don’t have glitter on are recyclable (glitter causes issues in the recycling process as it can’t be removed). So remember to tear off any glitter sections or non-paper items like badges and batteries.
- With wrapping paper and gift bags there is the super handy scrunch test: if you scrunch it and it doesn’t spring back, then it can be recycled – sorted!
- Cardboard packaging, including that from online shopping, can be recycled. Simply flatten to save space and remove any plastic or polystyrene.
A little goes a long way
- Toilet roll tubes often get forgotten but it’s easy and worthwhile to recycle them.
- If everyone on the Isle of Wight recycled two toilet roll tubes over the Christmas week, it would save enough energy to power the St Mary’s Hospital for one day!
Eat, drink and be merry
- Food and drink cartons – such as those for custard and orange juice – need only a quick rinse. Handy tip: flattening takes up to a third less space in your recycling bin.
- Once you’re done stuffing your face with Christmas pud don’t forget that the card sleeve it came in can be recycled
- When the epic kitchen clean-up is done, remember those dishwasher tablet boxes can be put in with your recycling
And if in doubt…
- Tissues, kitchen roll, wet wipes and cotton wool all need to be put in the rubbish bin
Put polystyrene packaging in clear sacks
Worried that extra polystyrene packaging with fill your general rubbish up this Christmas? No need to panic, the Isle of Wight Council, in partnership with Amey, will collect excess polystyrene from households on general waste collection days from 27 December 2016 to 6 January 2017.
If you have excess polystyrene packaging just place it within a clear bag next to your black bin/black gull sack on your collection day. It must be in a clear sack so that the collection crews can easily identify it. The clear bag must only contain polystyrene or it won’t be collected.
After 6 January 2016, please remember, polystyrene is not currently recyclable and must be placed in your black bin/black gull sack or taken to Lynnbottom or Afton Marsh Household Waste Recycling Centre and placed in the general rubbish skip.
Maximize our recycling efforts
Executive member for environment (sustainability) and local engagement, Councillor Paul Fuller, said:
“With so much happening at Christmas, it’s a good opportunity to take a breath and consider how we can maximize our recycling efforts. Get the family involved in spotting any paper and card that can be recycled – while buying or unwrapping presents or planning the Christmas meal.
“Last year 1 million tonnes of paper and card packaging was collected for recycling in the UK so we’re already doing a great job! Can we do more this year?”
Amey’s account director for the Isle of Wight, Paul Southall, added:
“We recognise many people will have a lot of additional packaging to dispose of this time of year, which is why we’re working with the council to collect excess polystyrene in your black bin/black gull sack collection day in the two weeks after Christmas as long as it is in clear sacks.
“Many households will also have a lot more paper and cardboard to recycle than during the rest of the year, mainly from wrapping paper and packaging. You can put excess paper in clear or white sacks and leave it to the side of your green bin or blue gull proof sacks on your collection day and they will be collected. You can also bundle excess cardboard and also leave this to the side for collection.”
For more information about recycling and waste, visit iWight or go to Recycle Now Website.
Image: pagedooley under CC BY 2.0
