Check your bin collection day
Changes to your bin collection days, including garden waste, continue this week and the next. Check the revised collection schedule before putting out your waste.
Normal collections will resume on 15 January (Monday).
 Recycle your real Christmas tree
As the New Year begins, you may have started to think about disposing of your Christmas tree, taking down the decorations and putting your Christmas cards in the recycling.
Your real Christmas tree can be recycled using our garden waste collection service.
Simply cut the tree up and place the chippings in your brown garden waste bin or bag on your collection day. You can also take them to re3 recycling centres in Reading or Bracknell. Remember to remove all tinsel and decorations and any pots or stands before recycling.
Alternatively, you can add the chippings to your compost bin or heap if you have one.
If you have a Christmas tree with its roots still attached, replanting it is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.
Can artificial trees be recycled?
Artificial trees are made from a combination of materials and therefore cannot be recycled. Keeping your artificial tree for future Christmases is one of the best ways to save money.
If you can't keep it for whatever reasons, see if any charity shops can accept it for re-sale or re-use, if it is still in good condition.
 Tips to recycle Christmas cards
Most Christmas cards are paper-based and can be recycled along with their envelopes in your green recycling bags.
Remember to remove any extras like ribbon, glitter or bows, or simply tearing off that part of the card before recycling.
Batteries should also be removed from musical cards and disposed of at recycling points, including local supermarkets and re3 recycling centres. They may cause fire if mixed in with other waste or recycling.
Use Recycling Locator tool to find your nearest recycling point.
 Getting you ready for a greener future
We’re changing how we collect rubbish and recycling from most households next summer and want to help you get ready.
We need these changes to reduce our environmental impact, meet Government recycling targets and save money to face unpredecented financial challenges.
Rubbish will be collected fortnightly from a 180-litre black wheeled bin and recycling will be collected fortnightly on weeks when rubbish isn’t taken from our reusable green sacks.
Food waste will remain weekly and our subscription garden waste collection service isn’t changing. Using these could help ensure you have enough space for non-recyclable rubbish.
We’ll share more information nearer the time but you should be thinking about reducing your waste now, with our advice if needed, if you aren’t already.
A range of recycling options
Most residents need to recycle more items they throw away as rubbish – although we realise many of you are doing the maximum already, and we’re thankful.
Consider making the most of all options – you can order more green bags or a food waste bin, free of charge, for collection at various hubs.
You can book a "click and tip" slot at re3’s recycling centres in Reading and Bracknell, and the re3 website offers hints on reducing, reusing and recycling waste.
You can take glass and textiles to your local recycling banks, and we offer a bulky items collection. You could donate item to charity shops or sell or give them away online.
Items like bubble wrap and soft plastics can be recycled at many supermarkets in the borough. Visit the Recycle Now website for help finding your nearest collection point.
 New repair café opening in Woodley
A new repair café is coming to the borough!
Woodley Repair Café will be launching this Sunday (7 January) at Christ Church on Crockhamwell Road (RG5 3LA). It will be running on the first Sunday of the month, from 2pm to 4pm.
Same as other repair cafés, there will be volunteers standing by to help you fix your broken household items. If you want to lend a hand with the repairs, email Carol Jewell, the organiser of Woodley Repair Café, direct.
With this new addition, we are lucky to have a total of three repair cafes in the borough to support our residents in reducing waste and reusing what we already have. Thank you to all repair cafés organisers and volunteers!
Other repair cafés in January
Also this Sunday, the regular repair café at Spencers Wood Village Hall (RG7 1AP) will be on from 10am to 1pm.
The repair café at Lambs Lane Primary School (RG7 1YG) will continue to be held on the third Sunday of the month, that is, 21 January, from 10am to 1pm.
 Disposing of DIY waste for free
Residents can now dispose of small amounts of DIY waste for free at re3 recycling centres in Reading and Bracknell, as new regulations came into effect on 31 December 2023.
The free allowance of DIY waste accepted in a single visit to the recycling centres are:
- Up to 100 litres of loose DIY waste, such as rubble, soil, plasterboard or asbestos, or
- One large item, like a sink or a bathtub.
Please note you will be charged if:
- The amount of DIY waste exceeds the free allowance - meaning there is more than 100 litres of waste or any additional large item in a single visit, or
- You've already disposed of DIY waste at the recycling centres four times over a four-week period - meaning after your fourth visit, any additional visits within the period will be chargeable.
More information is available at the re3 website.
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