What you need to know about recycling Christmas waste in Calderdale

This festive season, Calderdale Council is reminding residents what can and can’t be recycled, to help reduce the amount of waste in general household bins.
What you need to know about recycling Christmas waste in CalderdaleWhat you need to know about recycling Christmas waste in Calderdale
What you need to know about recycling Christmas waste in Calderdale

When buying Christmas cards or wrapping paper, it’s always a good idea to avoid designs with foil, glitter or glue, to ensure they can be recycled. If you receive cards with these fixings, they can be re-used as designs for gift tags.

Read: Woolshops will be staying open later for Halifax shoppers on these days over ChristmasThe ‘scrunch test’ is a good way to tell whether wrapping paper can be recycled. If the paper ‘scrunches’ it can be recycled via the weekly kerbside collection service, just put it in the green sack for paper and thin card. Find out more at www.recyclenow.com.

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Sticky tape also needs to be removed from wrapping paper before it’s placed in the recycling. Ink stamps or paint won’t affect the recycling process so any home-decorated paper can be recycled as normal.

Christmas crackers (and jokes) can be recycled, but please place any glittered, foil and ribbon items in the general waste.

Fairy lights can be recycled. Smaller lights can be placed in the recycling box; any larger fairy lights should be deposited in the electrical waste skip at your local Household Waste Recycling Centre.

Christmas trees can be put in green waste skips at any of Calderdale's Household Waste Recycling Centres, but please ensure that all decorations are removed, before depositing in the skip.

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Read: This is what £100,000 can get you in these Calderdale postcodesThere is also a temporary collection point throughout January at Ogden Water for a donation to Friends of Ogden Water. The trees are used to make a natural barrier around the water.

Calderdale Council’s Assistant Director for Neighbourhoods, Andrew Pitts, said: “We know there’s a lot to think about at Christmas, but by making simple changes and considering the environment when purchasing Christmas items we can all help reduce the amount of waste in our general bins.

“Last year, we collected over 30 per cent more food waste, over 80 per cent glass and over 100 per cent more cardboard over the Christmas period. To help our recycling crews cope with this extra demand, we’re asking residents to try and more evenly distribute the waste out for collection throughout the festive period and to squash items like bottles and cans.”

Residents are reminded that their collection days may be different over Christmas. Calendars have been delivered to households and are downloadable online showing collection days over the festive period, as well as collection dates for 2020.

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The biggest change to note is that Wednesday 25 December collections will be brought forward to Saturday 21 December 2019 – check your collection days so you don’t miss out.

For more information about recycling in Calderdale, visit www.calderdale.gov.uk/recycling.