Over the festive period, household waste typically increases by around 30%.

With this in mind, we’ve put together some handy tips to help you keep on top of your recycling this Christmas. By following our simple steps, you can make the most of your recycling bins and send more waste to be recycled.

Thank you for recycling the whole year through. We really appreciate your support.

Cllr James Higginbottom, Cabinet Spokesperson for Environment and Highways said: “It’s important that we all keep recycling at the front of our minds as we enter the Christmas period and the amount of waste in our homes increases.

“By taking a few simple steps, such as folding your cardboard boxes, you can make a big difference to how much you can recycle.

“We hope that our tips give our residents all the information they need to carry on recycling this Christmas and beyond.”

Flatten cardboard boxes.

Did you know the UK uses around 300,000 tonnes of card packaging and material during the festive period – enough to cover Big Ben 260,000 times?

Flatten thin cardboard boxes like cereal and tissue boxes before putting them in your blue bin. If you are not going to re-use them, large boxes should be cut up into smaller pieces or carefully folded to fit inside your bin. Be careful not to get cardboard wedged in your recycling bin as that may mean it will not be able to be emptied properly and the collection crews are not allowed to pull it out.

Wash and squash your plastic bottles and crush tins and cans.

This means you can add more into your brown bin as less space is taken up by air. If you put a pop bottle in your bin that has not been flattened and has its lid on, that is one big pocket of air wasting space in your bin.

If you have lots of cans, especially drinks cans, in your waste you might find you can save a load of space by crushing these. Either use a can crusher or make sure you are wearing heavy-duty / sturdy shoes, so you do not get hurt and crush them under foot. Be careful, once crushed your cans might be quite sharp.

Keep glass in your recycling bin.

Did you know that every tonne of glass recycled into new bottles and jars saves the equivalent carbon dioxide to charging 74,000 smart phones? So don’t forget to recycle them over the Christmas period.

Please make sure any glass bottles and jars go in your brown recycling bin and not your general household bin.

You can always check our website for further advice on what to do with recycling over Christmas and to see what you can and cannot put in your recycling bins.

Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRC)

Extra recycling, such as your real Christmas trees, can be taken to one of our HWRCs and disposed of properly.

Alternatively, you can use our large item collection service to pick up items from your home if you find yourself struggling for time to visit the tip or your recycling is too big to fit in your bin.

For all of the information you need on recycling this Christmas, visit our Christmas recycling page.