Recycle Right This Christmas
Breckland Council is asking people to 'Recycle Right' at Christmas to ensure as much recycling as possible is collected from across the district.
Residents are being urged to make the most of their recycling bins by collecting up festive recyclables, including wrapping paper, greetings cards, glass bottles, and clean food cartons, and where possible, please remove sticky tape from wrapping paper.
Please be aware that certain things, like cards or paper covered in glitter, cannot be recycled and end up contaminating the county's recycling as it goes through the sorting facility in Costessey.
Examples of materials that can be recycled at home are below. More extensive lists, including items which are particularly commonplace at Christmas, are available atWhat goes in my black bin?
Things that can go in your recycle bin
- Wrapping paper (minus sticky tape), shredded paper (loose), greetings cards (all of this should be glitter-free)
- Envelopes (not ones with bubble wrap padding)
- Cardboard packaging
- Clean glass bottles and jars
- Clean food tins and drink cans
- Clean food and drink cartons (including Tetra Paks cartons for juices and milk)
- Clean aluminium foil wrap and foil trays
Other recyclables not for your recycling bin
- Food waste (peelings/raw veg can be composted at home)
- Old toys (can go to a charity shop if in good condition)
- Old electricals can be collected on your weekly rubbish and recycling bin collection day. Please see our Electrical Waste information
- Clothing (can go to a clothing recycle bank or donated to charity)
- Energy saving light bulbs and fluorescent tubes (can go to a localRecycling Centre)
Things for the rubbish bin
- Plastic bags and all bagged waste
- Dirty kitchen foil
- Dirty jars, tubs, paper plates
- Sticky tape, ribbons and bows
- Crisp packets and sweet wrappers
- Wine glasses/tumblers
- Light bulbs (not energy saving bulbs or fluorescent tubes)
Don't forget to carry out the Scrunch Test on your wrapping paper to make sure the right thing goes in the right bin.
To carry out the test, scrunch the wrapping paper in your hand. If it stays scrunched, it can go in your recycling bin but if it bounces back, it can't be recycled and needs to go in the rubbish bin.
This test can also be applied to other household items, such as crisp packets and plastic bags, neither of which can be put in home recycling bins.
Real Christmas trees can go out with your garden waste bin (brown bin) if you have one or to aRecycling Centre if you don't. Artificial trees can also go to a Recycling Centre or be donated to charity if they're in good condition.
Residents are also being reminded that putting general rubbish into a recycle bin can contaminate perfectly recyclable items. For example, putting food waste in a recycle bin will damage any recyclable paper in the bin and reduce the amount of recycling that can be collected. For this reason, it is important that tins, bottles and food containers which can be recycled are clean, dry and loose.
Not sure when you Christmas bin collections are, please visit ourChristmas Holiday Bin Collections page.
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