Christmas is upon us! We all enjoy this wonderful time of the year that is filled with presents, parties and good food, but, unfortunately, Christmas also produces a lot of waste. Recycling is important all year round, and at Christmas, it can be confusing! With an abundance of wrapping paper, batteries and packaging entering our households, how do we dispose of them responsibly?

In this handy guide, we aim to answer all of your Christmas conundrums and make your waste go further than the festive season!

Cardboard

Cardboard is something we dispose of all year round, but at Christmas, our cardboard intake more than doubles! It is important that all this extra cardboard is recycled in order for it to be used again.

 In Torbay, Cardboard should be placed in your orange stickered recycling box, along with your glass, but you may find it tricky to fit all of this excess cardboard in your box. That’s why it’s really important that you flatten and fold your cardboard to allow for more space. If you will still struggle for space, you can request an extra recycling box to help get you through the festive period on the get a new/replacement bin page.

Wrapping paper

Wrapping presents is one of the most exciting parts of Christmas (or the most tedious!), but disposing of the wrapping paper after it’s been torn into can be confusing!

By now, all residents in Torbay should have received a blue bag for recycling paper, this is where you should place your wrapping paper for recycling, however, there are a few conditions. If the wrapping paper is glittery, shiny or has embellishments, it is likely to contain plastic and therefore it CANNOT be recycled.

An easy way to check whether your wrapping paper is recyclable is to carry out the scrunch test (watch this video to see what we mean).

If the paper scrunches and stays scrunched, it can be recycled! If the paper bounces back after being scrunched, it cannot be recycled.

Brown wrapping paper should be placed in your orange stickered box, along with your cardboard. If you have not received a blue bag for recycling paper, please let us know by emailing recycling@swisco.co.uk.  

Christmas cards

Who doesn’t love receiving a ‘Merry Christmas’ card in the post from a loved one? You may be sentimental and keep hold of these cards for memories, or even better, cut them up to create gift tags for next Christmas! If you don’t plan on doing this, how can they be recycled?

Christmas cards should be placed in your orange stickered box for recycling, but there are exceptions. If the card is glittery or has embellishments, it cannot be recycled and should instead be placed in your grey wheelie bin. If only the front of the card is embellished, you should rip the card in half and place the back of the card in your orange recycling box, and the front in your wheeled bin.

Batteries

Whether you use them to light up your tree, or to power up your child’s new toy, batteries are everywhere at Christmas time. But once they run out, how can they be recycled? A lot of shops and supermarkets have a battery collection point, but to avoid making a trip, batteries can also be recycled at home!

As long as they are bagged and labelled, batteries can be placed in your green stickered recycling box! Loose batteries will not be accepted as they can get caught in other packaging and start fires at our recycling centre. If the batteries are bagged, our recycling crews will happily take them off your hands!

Christmas lights

If the lights on your tree fail to work this Christmas, you can easily recycle them from home! Small electricals are accepted if they are bagged and placed in your orange stickered recycling box!

Food waste

Let’s admit it, the food at Christmas is definitely one of the highlights! But often, we all have eyes bigger than our bellies and end up with a lot of leftovers. These leftovers can make some delicious bubble and squeak or turkey sandwiches for Boxing Day, but sometimes we might still have leftovers even after making these dishes!

In Torbay, we offer a food waste collection service - and we will happily dispose of your turkey bones and burnt roast potatoes (we’ve all been there!)

Your food waste bin is collected weekly alongside your recycling, so we recommend using this service - food is far more likely to rot and smell if you put it in your wheeled bin, as this is collected fortnightly.

You can line your food waste bin with any plastic bag to keep it clean, the bags are separated from the food once it reaches the processing facility. Recycled food waste is sent to Holsworthy, where it undergoes a process called anaerobic digestion – this creates biogas and fertilizer!

Did you know, recycling just 6 teabags creates enough energy to boil the kettle again!? Imagine how much energy could be created from all your Christmas leftovers!

To get a food waste bin visit the get a new/replacement bin page.

Christmas trees

If you have a real Christmas tree, you may be wondering how you can get rid of it once the festive season is over. Well, you have multiple options! The first way to get rid of your Christmas tree would be to take it to the recycling centre, located on Tor Park Road in Paignton. Just make sure you book an appointment before you visit. Another way is to visit one of our Christmas tree collection points. These are located in the Town Hall car park (Torquay) and at Brixham College and will run from 9:30am to 12pm on 7 and 14 January 2023.

You can also dispose of your Christmas tree by signing up to our new garden waste collections! For £50 a year, you can receive fortnightly collections of all your garden waste, including Christmas trees! If you’ve subscribed to the service you can leave your real Christmas tree in the brown bin (though branches must be no more than 10cm thick).

Visit the garden waste collections page for more details and to sign up. Did we mention this subscription could also make a great Christmas present for your green-fingered family member or friend?

More information and help

We hope this guide has helped to answer any of your questions. If you have any more queries or would like extra help, please feel free to email us at recycling@swisco.co.uk. You can keep up to date with the latest tips and advice on how to recycle more by signing up for our recycling newsletter.

You can find out everything you need to know about recycling over the festive period on the Christmas recycling page. You can also follow our Christmas recycling campaign on the Torbay Council Facebook and Twitter accounts and look out for #TorbayRecycles and #RightStuffRightBox.

Finally, from all of us here at SWISCo, thank you so much for your efforts in recycling! Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Eden Fockens
Recycling Support Coordinator