Durk Reyner, head of recycling at Welwyn and Hatfield district council and vice-chair of LARAC , told letsrecycle.com that he was delighted with the pre-Christmas call from environment minister Elliot Morley for householders to recycle as much as possible of their Christmas materials. And, Mr Reyner added that he did not expect huge difficulties in dealing with the expected surge in materials from households.
Moved on
Mr Reyner said: “I thought the minister’s message was great and I hope it stimulates more recycling. Local authorities have moved on from the day when banks would fill up and overflow. There are more recycling centres now, more frequent collections and more authorities collect glass. In these areas residents will not need to go to bottle banks.”
Glass, however, appears to remain as one of the more difficult areas for local authorities to deal with. Some banks in the London area were full after Christmas with residents airing criticisms that glass was not collected from households.
Festive waste
The environment minister, speaking before Christmas, had called on the public “across the country to recycle their festive waste this Christmas
Mr Morley said: “This Christmas Britain will generate millions of tonnes of rubbish, most of which will languish in landfill sites. This needn't be so. Recycling is easier than it has ever been before so everyone can do their bit.”
“The benefits of recycling to the environment are clear. For example, over 24 million glass jars of mincemeat, pickles and cranberry sauce will be consumed over Christmas. If these were recycled, it would save enough energy to boil water for 60 million cups of tea.”
A statement from DEFRA added that “as well as recycling materials like glass, paper and aluminium cans through existing kerbside collection schemes and local recycling points, many local authorities across the country will also be recycling old Christmas trees after the festive period.
“In addition, scores of community based organisations and charities are raising vital funds by recycling more unusual goods like IT equipment, domestic appliances mobile phones, clothes and books.”
Christmas cards
Christmas cards are being targeted for recycling by the Woodland Trust.
The organisation – the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity – has once again teamed up with retailers WH Smith and Tesco to run the 2005 Christmas Card Recycling Scheme, throughout January 2005.
The scheme, which last year recycled 45 million cards – the equivalent to 883 tonnes – aims to encourage individuals to recycle their old Christmas cards by leaving them in the special recycling bins in the shops and stores. The target for the 2005 campaign is to recycle 50 million cards.
Register for free to comment