Published: 13/12/2022
COPELAND council is asking everyone to use the festive period as a chance to recycle.
The festivities provide a great opportunity to recycle extra things - cans and bottles from celebrations, card from deliveries and packaging, Christmas cards, and foil from the turkey can all be put out in your kerbside recycling bins.
Residents can also take any extra to one of the council’s community recycling sites, listed on its website at www.copeland.gov.uk.
Shirley Procter-Dow, Copeland’s Head of Environment and Community, said: “People can really help collections go smoothly over the festive season if they follow these useful tips.
“Like most councils, we can’t collect wrapping paper, as our processor does not accept it. It can't be taken to a community site either, so we always urge people to use alternative ways of wrapping if possible - offcuts of fabric, newspaper, reusable boxes or plain brown paper.
“We also want to remind people that, now that we have new wheeled recycling bins, we can only accept what is inside the bins – we can’t take any extra put out alongside. We appreciate that Christmas creates a lot of recyclable material, but if you have too much and can’t get to a community site, please try to keep it aside and add it to your next collection instead.”
The council offered additional tips for being a successful recycler this Christmas:
*Only recycle gift bags if they are made of plain paper or card - a foil finish can't be recycled.
*Don't include curling ribbon or stick-on bows, which are made of plastic.
*If you have brown paper from parcels, this can be recycled along with your paper and card.
*If you’ve filled your paper and card bin, online delivery boxes can be taken to your nearest bring site - remember to take out any polystyrene and packing tape and flatten them down as much as you can.
*Christmas cards - glitter can't be recycled so tear off that part as well as any batteries or badges.
*Cans and bottles from the festivities can of course be recycled. Keep the metal tops on your bottles as these will be recycled too.
*Aluminium food trays can be recycled, just give them a rinse if they have food sticking to them.
*Confectionery and biscuit tins, both metal and plastic, can be added to your metal/glass/plastic bin.
*The clean foil from your turkey can be put in your red-lidded bin, or taken to a bring site. Scrunching it into a ball makes it easier to recycle.
*Christmas trees - the most environmentally-friendly option is not to buy one at all, but to reuse an artificial tree that you already have, or one that a friend is giving away. If you have a real one, cut it up and add it to your brown garden bin for when collections restart in the spring.
Click here for a picture of Copeland's new recycling bins:
https://dmscdn.vuelio.co.uk/publicitem/05d0084a-688f-4ab2-92f1-df07dd01e1c9/webversion
