Christmas is well and truly on its way. The John Lewis advert has been on tv for weeks, roads are icing up, beards are being grown and the Christmas shopping panic has begun. For many, spending time with family and enjoying the time off work is the main priority for the Christmas period. In this blog, we will be talking about another important thing you should be worried about this year, recycling the waste from Christmas Day.
Christmas Waste Statistics
Here in the UK, we are wasteful throughout the whole year, not just at Christmas. However, there are some shocking statistics about the waste produced by the UK over the Christmas period and here are some of the most scandalous:
- More waste than usual – Over the festive season, the UK creates 30% more waste than usual, which includes an estimated two million turkeysworth of uneaten poultry and six million Christmas trees. We also dump the equivalent of 5 million Christmas puddings in the bin every year.
- Tree emissions – A six-foot artificial tree produces 40kg of emissions if thrown on a landfill site, compared to a real tree which only produces 3.5 kg of emissions if chipped or incinerated.
- Wrapping paper and packaging – Over 300,000 tonnes of card packaging is used every year, enough to cover Big Ben in London, over 260,000 times. Also, over 220,000 miles of wrapping paper is thrown away every year.
- Food waste – £2.4 billion is wasted on uneaten and discarded food every year. Approximately 74 million mince pies and 17.2 million Brussel sprouts are thrown away every year.
How You Can Stop Adding to This
Obviously, it would be impossible to go through Christmas without wasting something. The sheer amount of food, drink, wrapping paper, people and decorations that fill a house at Christmas are all factors that can lead to things being wasted. However, you can stop yourself adding to these statistics by following a few simple steps, here are some you should try:
- Use less packaging – Many gifts these days come with a horrendous amount of packaging. Try to buy gifts with less packaging and when wrapping them use less paper. Also, try to save left over wrapping paper, rather than throwing it away because much of this can be recycled.
- Save leftovers – It’s nearly impossible to find the perfect amount of food to satisfy the needs of all your guests. However, this doesn’t mean that if you have too much food you should waste it. Cold turkey sandwiches with pickle and cheese are a brilliant idea and there are many different recipes you can do with leftovers from your Christmas meal.
- Reuse and upcycle – Christmas decorations are often very hard to recycle. Only replace them if they are at Death’s door and try to make your own decorations out of things you may find in your house.
- Dispose of waste properly – Over the Christmas period, cases of fly-tipping and illegal dumping increase. Hiring a skip to dispose of large amounts of waste is the smart and responsible option to take. We have a sale on all of our skips at the moment, make the most of it!
Going to need a skip over the Christmas period? Contact us on 01493 668118 or email us on info@wtskiphire.co.uk.
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