 Last chance to give your views
The consultation on potential changes to your rubbish and recycling collections will end at midnight next Monday (5 December). If you haven’t had your say, take the survey now.
 Christmas and New Year bin collections
There will be changes to your rubbish and recycling collections during the festive period this year:
- Our crews will be given a well-deserved rest and time with their families on Boxing Day. Since this year’s Boxing Day falls on a Monday, all bin collections during that week will be one day later than normal. That means, all collections originally on Monday 26 December will change to Tuesday 27 December, collections originally on Tuesday 27 December will change to Wednesday 28 December and so on.
- Collections on bank holidays (27 December, 2 January) will continue, but our crews will start earlier at 5.30am. Be sure to put out your waste and recycling the night before.
- Our crews will work on Saturday 31 December to catch up, with an earlier start at 5.30am. If your original collection day is Friday 30 December, our crews will come to get your waste on Saturday 31 December.
- Garden waste collections will follow the same Christmas and New Year schedule.
- Collections will go back to your normal days from Monday 2 January 2023.
Download the Christmas and New Year collection schedule from our website and keep it for your handy reference.
 Enjoy a waste-free World Cup
The World Cup is undoubtedly one of the best occasions for fellow footie fans to get together and food is often a big part of the appeal. However, food packaging can generate a lot of waste.
The good news is most food packaging can be recycled:
-
Tin foil: clean it and then scrunch it up into a small football shape, before recycling it.
-
Glass bottles and jars: rinse them quickly, so that they are free from any food or liquid and then take them to your nearest bottle banks.
-
Drink cans: put empty cans in your recycling bags.
-
Pizza boxes: they can be recycled if they are not soaked in grease, and there are no stray crusts inside.
-
Takeaway tubs and trays: whether made from aluminium foil or plastic, they can both either be reused or recycled – remember to empty and rinse them before putting them out for recycling.
It is also a good habit to use real cutlery, crockery and glassware, rather than plastic or paper disposable ones. Although it will mean a bit more washing, it’s definitely worth it!
Love your leftovers
Last but not least, if you have any leftover food, save it for the next day and turn it into a new dish.
If you can’t finish it all, put it on the compost heap or into your food waste caddy to have it turned into fertilizer. Visit the Love Food Hate Waste website for some fabulous food saving recipes.
 Festive recycling tips
The festive season is just around the corner! Over the next month or so, it’ll be all about celebrations.
From this issue on, we will be sharing our top tips on how to waste less and recycle more in this jolly season, from preparation all the way to the end of festive celebrations.
Gifts
- Choose gifts with less or recyclable packaging such as cardboard. Wrapping paper or bags with shiny foil or glitter can’t be recycled.
- Cardboard tubes in the centre of a roll of gift wrap can be recycled too.
- Decorate your presents with reusable or natural decorations, such as reusable string, ribbon or a sprig of holly or mistletoe, instead of shiny metallic-style ribbons.
Shipping boxes and packaging
Your online shopping or festive feast deliveries often come in boxes, which can mostly be recycled. Here is what you should do when recycling these:
-
Cardboard: remove any plastic or polystyrene inserts and sticky tape on the packaging and then flatten them to create room in your recycling bags.
-
Glass bottles and jars (for example, for sauces): rinse them out and keep the lids on.
-
Foil trays (for example, for minced, pies, quiche or pudding): give them a quick clean first, then scrunch them up lightly into a ball.
 Christmas cards
Have you thought of sending an e-card? It is as good as a physical card, but a lot more environmentally friendly.
If you do want to go for a physical one, try to choose some plain ones because cards with foil, glue or glitter can’t be recycled. If these cards are not going to be kept after Christmas, they may have to be disposed of as general rubbish.
Christmas tree and decorations
The rule of thumb is to re-use them as much as possible:
- Take care when unboxing the packaging of your artificial Christmas tree, as you may want to use the box for storing the tree after Christmas
- Use natural decorations such as ivy, fir cones, mistletoe and holly, which can be composted if they are not covered with glitter.
- Re-use your baubles and tinsel year on year, because they can’t be recycled. If any of your glass baubles breaks, wrap it in newspaper or kitchen roll and bin it.
- If your fairy lights are not working any more, take them to re3 household waste recycling centre in Reading or Bracknell, as they are classed as small electrical items. If you are buying new ones, pick those using LED bulbs which are more energy efficient.
More to come in our next issue. Stay tuned!
 Reusable period products help the planet and your purse
Switching to a reusable period product like a Mooncup or reusable sanitary pads can save you more than £100 a year.
A standard pack of single-use pads contains the same amount of plastic as five plastic carrier bags, with 200,000 tonnes of menstrual waste created every year in the UK alone. Most of these end up incinerated, like they do in Wokingham borough, or in landfill.
Reusable products can last between five and ten years, with a one-off cost. Disposable products can cost around £10 per month, according to estimates from Bloody Good Period.
Through our partnership with local business Maya’s Refillables, based in Wokingham, and other national partners you can get these products are a reduced rate.
Use discount code WBC-SANIT-10 to get 10 per cent off products in the Maya’s Refillables shop or buy online. The offer is valid until 31 December 2022. National partner discount codes can be found on our website.
|
