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Christmas is approaching and Babergh District Council is launching a campaign to make this holiday season as green as possible.
Tonnes of rubbish from the festive period, which does not decompose, will end up in landfill at Great Blakenham. By the year 2015 the site – where all of Babergh’s black bin waste is currently buried in a huge hole in the ground – will be filled.
Babergh is urging all its householders to shop smartly, avoid excess waste and over-packaging and recycle more in a bid to control the amount of rubbish that ends up in landfill.
And as a seasonal bonus for residents, Babergh is offering three extra clear sacks – which will be collected along with the first blue bin collection after Christmas Day - for each household to put any additional recyclables collected over the holiday period.
Babergh, which has a joint waste and recycling partnership with Mid Suffolk District Council, has also revised rubbish collection dates over the holiday period and will be providing a Christmas tree composting service, starting in January, to get rid of those unwanted pines.
Between April and July this year, residents in the district recycled and composted 39 per cent of their rubbish – well over the Government target of 25 per cent – but with the launch of this festive campaign, Babergh is hoping to get that figure even higher.
Jonas Grist, Babergh’s Technical Officer (Waste Strategy), said: “We all know that Christmas festivities produce huge amounts of wrapping paper, cards, toy packaging, trees and, of course, excess food, among others.
“Each year the UK produces around 10 million tonnes of packaging waste and not all of it will be recycled. Unfortunately a lot of it will and end up in landfill sites.
“We want people to be aware that by avoiding over-packaging and taking responsibility for the amount of waste they produce, especially at Christmas, they can make a difference.
“By taking advantage of the extra sacks provided this year by Babergh, there is no need to throw out those extra recyclables because the blue bin is full.
“Try and resist the urge to buy so much extra food, as it is estimated a third of it will just end up in the bin - remember shops will open again just after Christmas for you to stock up on perishables.
“Also, don’t forget home composting is an excellent way to recycle fruit and vegetable peelings. It creates good quality compost for your garden and will to cut down on the amount of waste in the black bin.”
To claim your free clear sacks, please come to Babergh District Council’s offices in Corks Lane, Hadleigh, during office opening hours before Christmas Eve.
Bin collection times over the Christmas period have also been finalised and are as follows:
Details of Christmas collections:
Usual collection day Revised collection day
Monday, 24th December Saturday, 22nd December
Tuesday, 25th December Monday, 24th December
Wednesday, 26th December Thursday, 27th December
Thursday, 27th December Friday, 28th December
Friday, 28th December Saturday, 29th December
Monday, 31st December NO CHANGE
Tuesday, 1st January Wednesday, 2nd January
Wednesday, 2nd January Thursday, 3rd January
Thursday, 3rd January Friday, 4th January
Friday, 4th January Saturday, 5th January
ENDS
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Music: Drums
Reporter: With Christmas fast approaching, Babergh District Council is launching a campaign to make the holiday season as green as possible. Remember, tonnes of rubbish which does not decompose will end up in landfill. The Great Blakeham site where all of Babergh’s black bin waste is currently buried in a huge hole in the ground will be filled by 2015. So the advice. Here is Babergh’s Waste Strategy Technical Officer, Jonas Grist.
Jonas Grist: We would like you all to think a little bit about the environment this Christmas by shopping locally, shopping smartly, and avoiding unnecessary packaging where possible. We would encourage you to use your local shops, its good for our shops, producers, growers and your local environment because it reduces unnecessary travelling.
Another of our messages is about food. Up to a third of the food we buy ends up in the dust bin. It’s about buying sensibly and avoiding unnecessary wastage and don’t forget home composting, vegetable peelings, and fruit skins can all be home composted and the Council sells vastly reduced priced compost bins.
After you’ve opened up your presents, your left with the packaging – what can you do with it? The blue bin is for paper, card, plastic bottles and metal cans. Gift wrap can also go in the blue bin. We would encourage you not to put scrunchable plastics and carrier bags in the blue bin.
Some of you may not have enough room in the blue bin and we are therefore offering up to 3 clear sacks to be available from the Council Offices for the excess recycling.
As soon as Christmas is over there are several green ways you can dispose of your Christmas tree. Here in Babergh you can take your Christmas tree to a local recycling point. Christmas trees must be taken there by Sunday 6th January.
Music: Drums
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