Your Guide to Recycling This Christmas

Christmas is a time for joy and laughter, family and friends, eating and drinking, and celebrating another year around the sun. However, Christmas should also be a time for making more sustainable choices, helping to protect the environment that we live in.

Now more than ever, recycling is one simple way we can help the environment this Christmas. So, to help you make the eco-friendly choice this holiday, here is a comprehensive guide to recycling during Christmas.

How Much Rubbish Do We Make at Christmas?

There are five types of waste categories in the UK, all of which have different modes of disposal. These are organic waste, solid waste, liquid waste, hazardous waste, and recyclable waste. As you may imagine, hazardous waste is more common in manufacturing or non-domestic settings, so it is unlikely you will encounter such items over the holidays. However, households in the UK produce a surprising amount of the other four categories of rubbish every Christmas – let us take a look at some official Government statistics.

Organic Waste

Organic waste is foodstuffs and garden waste that can decompose over time. Over Christmas, households in the UK dispose of an enormous amount of food waste, typically disposing of it straight into the kitchen bin.

Whether it is leftover Christmas dinner or the burnt corner of your Christmas cake, organic waste over Christmas time can increase exponentially. In fact, the amount of leftover turkey could make 800 million Boxing Day curries, and the number of carrots alone thrown away amounts to the same weight as 636,000 reindeer!

Solid Waste

Solid waste is the solid items that you throw in your rubbish bin. With the amount of food packaging and presents that are used over Christmas, there is a lot of additional solid waste over the holiday.

Just the card packaging leftover from Christmas weighs an estimated 289,171 tonnes, which is enough to wrap up Big Ben almost 260,000 times.

Liquid Waste

Though households do not typically produce a vast amount of liquid waste, this is another area where waste increases over the Christmas period. With custard and cream on our puddings, or maybe even some brandy butter, even liquid waste can significantly add up over the holidays.

The most common liquid waste over Christmas is, of course, gravy! In fact, gravy is one of the food stuffs that is most thrown away at Christmas in the UK.

Recyclable Waste

Recycling bins can also become full of additional waste over Christmas, with several of the common solid waste items suitable for recycling banks. For a thorough guide to recycling over the Christmas period, take a look at the ‘What Can and Can’t I Recycle?’ section below.

Although extra waste over Christmas can be a bad thing for the environment, extra recycling isn’t always a bad thing, as it shows that more and more people are making healthy choices to properly dispose of recyclable materials.

Why Is Recycling Important?

With the additional waste produced over Christmas, it is more important than ever to ensure that your rubbish is recycled. To illustrate just how essential recycling can be, here are a few ways that recycling can help to reduce the impact of waste, both at Christmastime and all year round.

Reduces carbon emissions 

Carbon dioxide emissions are a natural byproduct of many processes, manufacturing techniques, and actions in the modern world. However, taking cars off the road is not a sustainable or plausible way to reduce carbon emissions. Instead, recycling can cut carbon emissions in the UK by the equivalent of removing 5 million cars from the roads, which amounts to roughly 18 million tonnes of CO2.

Protects natural resources 

To create new products, new materials must be mined, quarried, cut down, created, and processed. In doing so, we deplete the world of its natural resources in addition to churning out tonnes of CO2. By recycling plastic, glass, metal, and paper products, we protect the world’s natural resources, using recycled materials to create new products instead.

Saves energy 

In order to create new products, of course, this also takes a lot of energy. However, using recycled materials to create said products on average uses significantly less energy than would be required to produce and manufacture it using raw materials. Thus, recycling can drastically reduce the amount of energy used in manufacturing.

Reduces the amount of waste in landfills 

As rubbish in landfills decomposes or degrades – if it is capable of doing so, that is – this emits a massive amount of methane, which is another greenhouse gas. By recycling our rubbish, we reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills, and thus reduce methane emissions.

One way to combat global warming 

Overall, reducing CO2 and methane emissions, saving energy, and protecting the environment by recycling is one way that we as a society can contribute towards combating global warming.

What Can and Can’t I Recycle?

When it comes to disposing of your Christmas waste, it is important to check out your local council guidelines, council news, and recycling centre rules to see what you can and cannot recycle. If you recycle the wrong items, this can impact the efficiency of the recycling process over what will inevitably be a very busy time for all.

So, to assist you in your recycling commitments this Christmas, here are some of the most popular waste items at this time of year, with guidance as to whether they can be recycled, and how they should be disposed of.

Christmas Waste That IS Suitable for Recycling

• Christmas tree lights

Fairy lights and other electrical items can be recycled at a household waste recycling centre that is a Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) designated site.

•  Christmas wrapping paper

Most recycling collections will accept wrapping paper, brown paper, and most grades of paper, so long as it does not contain foil. To check to see if you have recyclable wrapping paper, scrunch it up and see if it stays in a ball. If it does not return to being flat, it is recyclable. Remember to ensure that it is clean paper, with all tape removed. Check your local household recycling centre for additional information.

• Cardboard packaging

When life is busy, there is no shame in online shopping for your Christmas presents. After they arrive, remember to recycle the brown cardboard boxes or tube the presents arrived in. Remember to remove all plastic, polystyrene, and stickers from the cardboard boxes for an efficient recycling process.

• Christmas cards

Christmas cards and cardboard tags, so long as you take off any ribbon, glitter, bows, jewels, and so on. Simply rip that section off and pop the card in the recycling. You can also recycle the parts of an envelope that don’t have any glue or plastic windows.

• Real Christmas trees

Christmas trees can be recycled into wood chippings that are perfect for children’s playgrounds, amongst a wide range of other applications. For bulky waste items such as a Christmas tree, consider skip hire in Manchester from Sheridan Skips, where we can offer you a variety of recycling collection dates to suit your needs.

• Paper decorations

Paper chains and shredded paper are completely recyclable. You can also make paper decorations from recycled material such as office paper or paper towels.

• Food and drink containers

Clean food tins, cardboard takeaway boxes, drinks bottles, and aluminium food trays are all recyclable, provided that they are completely clean of all food waste, and the items explicitly state they are recyclable on the packaging.

Other glass bottles and plastic bottles, such as milk bottles, shampoo bottles, and household cleaning product bottles, plus their bottle caps, can also be recycled once thoroughly cleaned, either in your household recycling bin or at bottle banks.

Christmas Waste That IS NOT Suitable for Recycling

• Glass or plastic baubles

Baubles often contain an array of glitter and decorations, which unfortunately make them unsuitable for recycling. Both plastic baubles and glass baubles should be disposed of in the rubbish bin. With broken glass baubles, remember to wrap them before binning to reduce the risk of injury.

• Tinsel

Tinsel is not suitable for recycling – dispose of it in your rubbish bin.

• Present wrapping materials

Things such as sellotape, stickers, bows, ribbons, and so on, are not suitable for recycling, but the paper they decorate often is. These materials should be removed from wrapping paper before it is recycled.

• Protective inserts

Before recycling any cardboard boxes, be sure to remove any polystyrene or plastic inserts, as these protective materials are not recyclable.

• Plastic Christmas trees

Unlike their authentic counterparts, plastic Christmas trees are mostly not recyclable. To get rid of bulky waste items such as this, let us take care of it for you with our waste collection and skip hire in Manchester.

• Broken cookware

We all have the occasional accident in the kitchen, and Christmas is no different, especially when you are cooking for so many people! However, broken cookware, such as coloured glass and Pyrex glass dishes, is unfortunately not suitable for recycling, even if you receive a specialist collection for glass recycling.

How to Create Less Waste at Christmas

As we have mentioned before, households in the UK have an increased amount of waste over the Christmas holidays. However, there are many simple but effective ways that you can make your Christmas more sustainable. From reusing household items to making easy swaps to eco-friendly alternatives, here are some ways you can ensure you create less waste at Christmas.

Use recycled wrapping paper 

An easy eco-friendly swap this Christmas is to use recycled wrapping paper. Shabby chic is a timeless aesthetic, so get creative with old newspapers, magazines, and brown paper. Add on a vibrant ribbon and a brown paper tag to really make it pop.

For a more luxurious feel, opt for a roll of wrapping paper that is made from recycled material. Recycled wrapping paper is becoming more and more popular, so you will be able to find them in most retail stores. And don’t forget to recycle your paper after Christmas day to set the cycle in motion for next year.

Only buy what you need 

Christmas is a time of indulgence – the time of the year we allow ourselves to eat extravagant foods and often larger portions! However, we are all guilty of buying things on impulse, often purchasing too much food than we actually need.

As an action against food waste, try to only buy what you need by making a list (and checking it twice). If you do end up with food leftover, consider donating it to a food bank. Most food banks will only accept certain items, though, so if you find yourself still holding on to food waste, ensure that the collection of food waste goes to a composting site, or you can compost it yourself in your back garden.

Upcycle

Many of the things that we buy can be used again and again – you just need to get a bit creative! Old ice cream tubs and biscuit tins are fantastic for storage, and empty plastic bottles can be reused to cool tap water in the fridge.

You can also turn jam jars, glass milk bottles, and small glass jars into beautiful table decorations with a helping hand from a tea light or a compact string of lights. Add a small wreath of holly around the outside and you have a gorgeous Christmas table centrepiece.

Make your own decorations 

Ever wondered what you can do with old lightbulbs? How about spending a cosy winter morning transforming them into baubles with a simple lick of paint? Or, cut out the festive designs of last years’ cards for a Christmas bunting for your front room.

By using recycled material to create your own decorations, you cannot only reduce your waste this Christmas but also save yourself a bit of money.

Recycle everything that you can

And, finally, recycle everything that you possibly can, using our handy guide above. In recycling the majority of your waste, you can ensure that less rubbish gets dumped into landfills. Instead, your waste will be processed and reused to create brand-new items as a sustainable alternative.

Recycling with Sheridan Skips

Here at Sheridan Skips, we are passionate about protecting the environment and the communities in which we operate. For this reason, we are proud advocates of carbon-efficient, eco-conscious, and sustainable waste management.

When you choose our skip hire in Manchester services, you can rest assured that all of the items that can be recycled will be recycled. We operate extremely strict recycling protocols, carefully separating and treating your waste, allowing it to be disposed of or recycled with the utmost efficiency.

As a family-run business with over two decades of experience in the industry, we know just how important eco-friendly waste management can be in our communities. Whether you are a business or a property owner, we can speed up and reduce the stress of your rubbish disposal, all whilst helping you to hit environmental targets that benefit the local area.

With so much experience, we know exactly where all the recycling centres are in the area and have comprehensive knowledge of what each recycling centre can accept and in what condition. Due to this, we can discern the quickest and most carbon-efficient route to dispose of your waste, speeding up and assisting in the efficiency of the recycling process, without any extra hassle for yourselves.

If you have any questions about our recycling processes, or for more tips to reduce your waste this Christmas, just get in touch with Sheridan Skips today.

For services in Limeside, Whitefield, Prestwich, and throughout Manchester, get in touch with our customer service team. At Sheridan Skips, our experts are on hand to help at every turn, ensuring that you always receive the most professional, reliable, efficient, and competitively priced skip hire and waste management solution to suit your needs.