As the festive season gets underway and we all have extra packaging and food waste, the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead is reminding residents to continue recycling as much as possible over Christmas and New Year.
More than 70 per cent of your waste can be recycled or composted. You can recycle items such as glass jars and bottles, Tetrapak food and drink cartons, plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays, metal food tins, drinks cans, aerosols and foil in your blue bin. The only requirement is that these items are loose, clean and dry.
You can also recycle Christmas cards, envelopes and some wrapping paper. Defra estimates that each year in the UK enough paper waste is produced to wrap the island of Guernsey or reach the moon – the equivalent of four hundred thousand kilometres.
However, not everything can be put into your blue recycling bin, including some wrapping paper. To identify which wrapping paper can be recycled, simply carry out the "Scrunch Test". After removing any sticky tape or labels, scrunch the wrapping paper into a ball. If it holds its shape, then it is ok to recycle.
For a full list of what can and can’t be recycled, please visit our Recycling Waste webpage.
Recycling and general rubbish collection days will differ slightly following Christmas, with normal collection days resuming from Monday 16 January. You can visit our Holiday Collection Dates webpage for a full list of the revised collection dates, look at your copy of Around The Royal Borough, or check our Find Your Collection Dates webpage to see when your next collection is due.
Please remember to put your recycling and general rubbish out by 7am on the collection day and no earlier than the night before. Only items placed inside the bins will be collected as usual.
Although our customer services opening hours are slightly different for Christmas, you can still Report A Missed Bin online at any time, from the day after your scheduled collection day.
Extra rubbish or recycling can be taken to our Stafferton Way Household Waste and Recycling Centre, which will continue to open daily 8am to 4.15pm, seven days a week over the festive period, except Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day .
Please don’t forget to recycle your real Christmas tree. Chop up your tree into your green bin if you have one or take it to the household waste recycling centre, or a tree collection point. Please visit our Disposing of Your Real Christmas Tree webpage to find out more.
Cllr Gurpreet Bhangra, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, Parks and Countryside, said: “We would like to thank everyone in the Royal Borough for their ongoing recycling efforts this year; we’re recycling more now than ever before.
“We are one of the top performing boroughs in the country for recycling our waste. This is something to be proud of, but we all have a responsibility to maintain this through the festive period. Christmas is a time of joy, excitement and indulgence, but needn’t be one of waste.
“To minimise our impact on the environment, I would encourage you to reuse and recycle wherever possible and to ensure you know your Christmas recycling and general rubbish collection dates, by visiting the council’s website.”