Recycled Christmas trees prevent tonnes of waste

Pic: Vladimir Menkov. Wikimedia Commons

Pic: Vladimir Menkov. Wikimedia Commons

Croydon residents who dropped off their old Christmas trees for recycling during January helped prevent an estimated 55 tonnes of waste going to landfill, new figures reveal.

Diminishing the costs of landfill charges saved an additional £5,500 off taxpayers’ money, as the trees were chipped and processed, instead of being buried in the ground so that they could be returned to the land as soil improver.

Councillor Phil Thomas, cabinet member for highways and environmental services, said: “With landfill taxes going up all the time, this is a real reminder of how easy and important it is that people recycle as much as possible.

“I am pleased that so many took advantage of our collection points, because everything helps us move closer to our target of recycling at least 50% of the borough’s waste.”

However, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA)’s latest statistics, there is still an average of 10.1 million tonnes of waste per year that gets landfilled and an amount of 445 kg of waste per person per year generated.

A spokesperson for the ‘Recycle Now’ campaign, a project meant to raise awareness and encourage recycling, said that their website offers all the information needed in order to improve the environment and that people can learn how and where to recycle.

An estimated 11,000 trees, 3,000 more than in previous years, were dropped off at the borough’s three reuse and recycling centres or at the 17 temporary tree-collection points set up by the council.

Here are ‘Recycle Now”s top five tips for recycling at home:

1. Keep it simple: Make space next to your bin for a recycling container – then it’s as simple to recycle as it is to throw it away.

2. Make life easy: If your local council offers a kerbside recycling scheme, take advantage and use it. To find your nearest recycling centre or more information about your kerbside collection scheme, use the postcode locator or contact your council.

3. Routine recycling: Make a visit to a bottle, can or other type of recycling bank part of your routine – most supermarkets have recycling facilities so don’t forget to drop before you shop!

4. Remember those glass jars: From jam, marmalade and baby food jars to spice, pasta sauce and coffee jars – just give them a rinse in your left over dish washing water and recycle them with your other glass.  Don’t worry about removing labels, they will come off in the recycling process.

5. Check the bathroom: Lots of items from the bathroom can be recycled too.  Shampoo and shower gel bottles are often forgotten, so start multi-tasking and rinse out those empty bottles whilst you’re in the shower!  Putting a recycling bin in your bathroom to collect all those empty bottles and cardboard tubes from inside the toilet rolls is a great idea.

For more information press here.

Leave a Reply