Last Christmas in the UK, we consumed close to 300,000 tonnes of card packaging - enough to cover Big Ben nearly 260,000 times! And it is unlikely to be a lower figure in 2017.
To get a better idea, Torbay Council says it takes 24 trees to make just one ton of newspaper, which means last year, the UK alone consumed 7,200,000 trees worth of card packaging at Christmas time. That could make a cardboard motorway stretching from London to Lapland more than 100 times with the card we use at Christmas.
Did you know, producing recycled paper uses up to 50 per cent fewer chemicals than virgin paper. Paper fibres can be recycled up to seven times! It takes just seven days for a recycled newspaper to come back as a brand new, recycled newspaper, says Torbay Council.
An awful lot of paper and card has swapped homes this Christmas whether through eating, gift-giving or celebrating with family and friends. There’s the online delivery card packaging or store packaging, wrapping paper, the Christmas card and tag you sent with it and the cardboard packaging containing the gift itself. That’s just one gift for one person!
Then consider that some 20 per cent of the whole year’s shop sales are made at Christmas that’s an overwhelming amount of paper and card potentially going in the bin.
To make life even easier for their residents (not) it seems each council has its own rules on recycling across Devon. So this is what you need to know:
TORBAY COUNCIL - What you can and should recycle: Christmas cards (without glitter), wrapping paper and gift bags (if you can scrunch it and it doesn't bounce back, it's recyclable!), cardboard packaging (eg - from the post), toilet roll tubes, food and drink cartons, takeaway pizza boxes (only if the cardboard is clean), glossy magazines and newspapers, cardboard toothpaste boxes.
What you can't and SHOULD NOT recycle: anything with glitter on it, anything that retains it's shape when scrunched (ie wrapping paper, gift bags), tissues, kitchen roll, wet wipes, cotton wool, soiled or greasy card, anything that isn't card or paper.
TOR2 will be collecting Christmas trees 9am to 1pm at Lymington Road Coach Station Car Park, Torquay and Brixham College, Ranscombe Road, Brixham on: Saturday January 6, Saturday January 13. You can also take Christmas trees to the the Recycling Centre on any day of the week during normal opening hours.
EXETER CITY COUNCIL - The Green Bin: They will take the following items in your green bin (remember you don't need to wash things out, just please make sure it’s all empty) paper/cardboard, tins/cans/foil, plastic bottles with lids, plastic tubs/pots/trays/film/wrap.
Christmas trees: garden waste customers can put their real Christmas trees out (with their brown bin or ECC garden sacks, if required) for a one-off collection on their first scheduled collection of the year. See exeter.gov.uk/bincollections for details of collections in your area. The 2018 brown bin collections start again on January 29. They encourage everyone else to take their tree/s to the recycling centres on Exton Road (Marsh Barton) and Pinbrook Road (off Pinhoe Road, near Pinhoe Aldi). See devon.gov.uk/recyclingcentres. They won’t be collecting trees with grey bins.
Wrapping paper: This year they are unable to take wrapping paper in the green bin. Their paper mill doesn’t like it, because it doesn’t produce good pulp (its fibres are too short and it tends to just turn into a sludge). They will reject any bales they find wrapping paper in, which will mean us losing out on revenue for public services.
Glass: there are more than 60 glass banks around Exeter and they are always hungry for glass. They have a real feast over Christmas – indulge them. Find your nearest recycling bank: exeter.gov.uk/recyclingbanks.
MID DEVON COUNCIL - Christmas cards without glitter or embellishments can be placed in your green recycling box along with your cardboard and cartons. We're unable to process cards with glitter or embellishments - please place these in your refuse.
Wrapping paper : Only non-glittery and non-metallic wrapping paper can be placed in your green recycling box. Please try to remove as much Sellotape and decorative accessories such as ribbons and bows where possible. We're unable to process foil-lined wrapping paper - please place this in your refuse.
Please don't use a black recycling box or their paper recycling banks for wrapping paper; fibre quality in this material is too low for medium and high grade recycling streams.
Real Christmas trees : If you’ve subscribed to the garden waste service, you can put your Christmas tree out either inside, or next to your brown bin for collection throughout January 2018. They accept Christmas trees with a trunk no bigger than six inches in diameter.
If you haven’t subscribed to the garden waste collection, you can take your Christmas tree to your nearest recycling centre.
Christmas recycling hints : If your blue kerbside caddy is full, you may place excess food waste into a compostable liner and leave on top of your caddy for collection. If you run out of room in your green recycling box, you can put greetings cards and wrapping paper out for collection in an unwanted cardboard box. Plastic toiletry packaging such as shower gels and shampoo bottles can go in your black recycling box.
Don’t forget tins, cans and plastics can all be mixed together; if you are running out of room in your black box(es), these can go out for collection in a white pedal bin liner.
NORTH DEVON COUNCIL - Recycling box : Household batteries (please put them in a small plastic bag before placing in your recycling box), Small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) such as kettles, toasters and mobile phones, Mixed plastics including yoghurt pots, margarine tubs, plastic bottles and food trays - squashed where possible, Glass bottles and jars, Food tins and drink cans, Aluminium foil, Aerosol cans. Unfortunately, they are not able to take black plastic products , plant pots, cling film and packaging film. This includes cellophane, sweet wrappers and crisp packs.
Please ensure all bottles, tins and cans are rinsed well, as these are sorted by hand. To help save space on vehicles, please also squash your plastics and cans where possible.
KERBSIDE CADDY AND KITCHEN CADDY : All cooked food, All raw food, Bones and carcasses, Leftovers from plates. Tea bags and coffee grounds, Fruit and vegetables, including peelings, Egg shells.Please line your caddies with special compostable caddy liners (7 litre or 23 litre), which you can buy from the supermarket. This helps contain the food waste and is more hygienic for you and our recycling crews. Alternatively wrap your food waste in a sheet of newspaper or kitchen roll. Please do not use plastic bags.
BROWN BAG : The following flattened cardboard items (with packaging tape removed) can go in - corrugated cardboard, cereal boxes and other cardboard food packaging, toothpaste boxes, toilet roll and kitchen roll cores, cardboard egg boxes, card sleeves (from food trays), greetings cards, You can have up to two brown bags per household.
If you have a large quantity of cardboard, please contact the council so that they can arrange a free bulky cardboard collection. Cardboard can also be taken to recycling centres in North Devon.
GREEN BAG : newspapers, paper, including shredded paper, white and brown envelopes (windowed or non-windowed), brown paper, magazines, catalogues, telephone books, junk mail (no plastics).
BLACK WHEELED BIN : Vacuum cleaner contents, Cardboard milk or juice cartons (or, you can take these to one of DCC's recycling centres), Disposable nappies, Plastic envelopes, Polystyrene, Plastic food wrappers - such as clingfilm and crisp packets, Black plastic food containers (or, you can take these to one of DCC's recycling centres).
TEIGNBRIDGE COUNCIL - Wrapping paper: wrapping made of paper can be recycled from home as part of your cardboard collection, using your green recycling box, or taken to any of our cardboard recycling banks.
The scrunch test: to make sure that your wrapping paper can be recycled you can use the scrunch test. If the paper bounces back it contains foil and cannot be recycled, if it stays scrunched it's fine.
Unfortunately, they are unable to accept wrapping paper in your reusable sack. All paper wrapping needs to be recycled with your cardboard in your green recycling box.
Christmas cards : those that do not contain foil or glitter can be recycled from home as part of your cardboard collection using your green recycling box . Christmas cards that contain foil or glitter or any other material cannot be recycled and should be placed in your black general waste bin for disposal.
Cardboard: all cardboard can be recycled using your green recycling box. Please make sure that your cardboard is folded or flattened to fit inside your box. Large boxes that do not fit in your green recycling box can be taken for free to your local recycling centre or to one of our recycling banks.
Real Christmas trees : Can be recycled at any of our drop off points in January, or they can be taken to one of Devon's Recycling Centres for free. Garden waste subscribers can place real Christmas trees inside their green bin provided the branches are less than 10cm thick. Please remember to remove all decorations!