Follow our festive recycling tips to help to make your Christmas even greener:

• Before placing wrapping paper and cards into your recycling bin please remove any ribbons, bows, tape, glitter and other adornments. 
• Flatten your cardboard boxes before you put them in your recycling bin, so you will have more room for your festive recycling.
• Only put paper and card that is clean and dry in your recycling bin. Anything containing food residue or food stains can’t be recycled.
• Not all wrapping paper is recyclable. If in doubt, do the scrunch test! If the wrapping paper stays scrunched it’s good for recycling. If it bounces back it’s likely to be foil or plastic lined and should be put in your general waste bin.
• Natural decorations like holly and ivy can be recycled in your garden waste bin or taken to your local recycling centre; just remember to remove any bows or ribbons first.
• Christmas fairy lights that are broken can’t go in your recycling bin, but they can be recycled if you take them to your local recycling centre.

To find out what other items can be recycled download the free MyNotts app and use our Recycling Checker. 

Over a third of us say that we throw away more food at Christmas than any other time of the year.

Let’s all get creative with those leftovers and make some delicious meals to see us through the festive period. Those unwanted brussels sprouts could be a tasty savoury pancake, or what about a warming Boxing Day potato cake with cheese or turkey?

We've created some festive cookery videos and recipes for some really tasty ideas on how to use your leftovers, so make sure you check them out.

The idea of having crackers at Christmas is said to date back to the mid 1800’s when a London sweet maker came up with a novel way to package his bon-bon sweets. Nowadays however, crackers are often not recyclable and contain plastic gifts which end up being thrown away.

Follow our tips to make sure your crackers don’t damage the environment:

• Choose eco-friendly crackers that are plastic free and easily recycled.
• Ensure that you recycle all leftover card, as long as it has no glitter or foil on it. There are plenty of crackers available that are made from recycled material.
• You can reduce the carbon footprint of your crackers by buying them from shops and creative businesses who source goods locally.
• Why not have a go at making your own crackers so the contents are personalised or even edible?

When all the tasty treats have been eaten you might be wondering what to do with the empty container. Remember, metal and plastic sweet and biscuit tins can’t go into your recycling bin, but…don’t let them go to waste!

Why not use them as handy storage containers for the following?

• Children's building blocks
• Christmas decorations
• First aid or sewing kit
• Desk tidy 
• You could even fill them with more cookies or cakes!

As many of us declutter ahead of Christmas, please remember to dispose of electrical items and batteries correctly.

Lithium-ion batteries are found in many electronic devices, toys, laptops, and power tools. Unfortunately they can cause fires if they are put in household waste bins. Once crushed in the back of bin lorries they can ignite other flammable waste, such as paper or plastic, which is extremely dangerous and can cause considerable damage to collection vehicles.

Small electronic devices are accepted at all of our recycling centres and special containers are also available at the sites for removed batteries. Large retailers like supermarkets who sell batteries will also have containers for the recycling of used batteries.

For safe disposal of larger electronic items, such as dishwashers and fridge freezers please contact your local district or borough council.

Back for its second year, Keep Britain Tidy’s ‘Buy Nothing New Month’ campaign is about reducing the amount of new stuff that we buy, and by extension, the amount of waste that we create. It’s about cherishing the things we already have, repairing things rather than throwing them away, and finding new homes for the things we no longer need.

You can get involved by signing up to receive some really useful tips throughout the month of January. It’s open to anyone, individuals, schools or organisations.