 Keep your recycling dry
To make sure your recycling efforts aren’t wasted, it's important to keep your recycling dry.
We've had a lot of rain recently, and if your paper or cardboard gets wet, we have to dispose of it as rubbish. Here are some tips to help:
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Seal your green bags tightly: don't leave your green bags open when you put them out
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Close bin lids: if you live in a flat and use a bin store, ensure the lids of the recycling bins are closed, especially if they're out in the open
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Maximize space: if you’re struggling to seal your green bags or close the bin lids, wash and squash the contents to make the best use of space
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Get an extra green bag: if your green bags are often too full to be sealed, pick up a green bag free of charge from our collection hubs
By recycling as much as we can, we can play a part in reducing our carbon emissions and saving money.
 Make the most of your Halloween pumpkins
Did you know that millions of pumpkins, the centrepiece of Halloween traditions, are thrown away every year after the celebrations?
There are many ways to keep your pumpkin from being wasted. Follow these suggestions from the UK environmental charity Hubbub to make the most of it:
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Small is good: choose smaller pumpkins, as they tend to be more flavourful, less fibrous and less watery
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Decorate your pumpkin: decorating the outside instead of carving it means the whole thing stays fresh until you’re ready to eat it
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Eat your pumpkin: you can eat all parts of a pumpkin - except for its stalk. Any variety of pumpkins or squash, including those grown for carving, can be delicious. Check out these recipes for ideas on how to turn it into something tasty
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Freeze the flesh: when carving your pumpkin, scrape out the insides, steam (or blanch) the flesh, and freeze it for another day
 Don’t let your carved pumpkins go to waste
If you can’t eat your Halloween pumpkin, add it to your compost heap and it will break down quickly.
You can recycle it with other food waste. If your pumpkin is too big, chop it up before putting it in your kitchen caddy.
Alternatively, you can sit the whole pumpkin next to your black food waste bin on your collection day. Our crew will take it away and it will be turned into energy and fertilizer.
 Sweet wrappers can be recycled
If you've got a stash of sweets with plastic wrapping, remember you can recycle these wrappers alongside plastic bags, crisp packets and the like at most supermarkets.
Just put them inside another bag and drop them off the next time you go shopping. Use the online Recycling Locator tool to check your nearest collection points.
How about foil wrapping?
Foil wrapping can be recycled too.
When you're unsure if a shiny wrapper is recyclable, do a scrunch test - scrunch the wrapper in your hand, if it remains scrunched in a ball, you can pop it in your green bags together with other bits of used foil.
Remember - the bigger the foil ball, the easier to recycle!
 Reducing waste is key
While there’s plenty of recycling to be done around Halloween, it also benefits the environment if we can reduce the amount of waste generated by the festivities.
Halloween costumes
Making your own Halloween costumes and decorations is easy. You can use many things already in your house, like old clothes, bedsheets and cardboard, to cobble a costume together - and there are loads of great ideas online.
Alternatively, hunt around in a charity shop or online marketplaces to find something preloved to save buying new.
Treat baskets
You may also want your children to gather their trick or treating haul in a more sustainable way - swapping plastic treat baskets with metal or wicker ones, or reusing those from previous years.
You can also be crafty to create unique Halloween baskets with your children. We find the paper baskets on the BBC website very easy to make, and turning old pillowcases into treat bags could be quite fun.
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