23 Dec 2013

Tis the season for lots of landfill


This came in from www.vision21.org.uk  so we’re sharing the bits relevant to Stroud with a few additional comments. All the opinion-based stuff in here can be attributed to me.

In Gloucestershire we generate nearly 30,000 tonnes of waste throughout the festive period, creating almost five extra sacks of waste per typical family household (Source: Recycle for Gloucestershire, Nov 2012).

Christmas trees - can be put out for collection with your refuse in the two weeks between 6th and 13th January. Christmas trees up to 1.5m tall can be left out whole and trees larger than this should be cut down before being put out for collection. Between 2nd and 20th January, large skips for tree recycling can be found throughout the district at the following locations -- the trees  will be taken for shredding and the material composted:

 * Berkeley-- Library Car Park
 * Bussage -- Village Hall
 * Cainscross -- Council Car Park
 * Cam-- Tesco Car Park
 * Dursley -- Dursley Pool Car Park
 * Haresfield -- Blooms Garden Centre
 * Leonard Stanley -- Pavilion Car Park
 * Minchinhampton -- Dr Browns Road
 * Nailsworth -- Wyevale Garden Centre
 * Slimbridge -- Royal British Legion Car Park
 * Stroud -- Cheapside Car Park
 * Whitminster -- Highfield Garden World
 * Wotton under Edge -- Chipping Car Park
 * Upton St Leonards**-- Perry Orchard.

Christmas cards - These can be put into the kerbside recycling boxes, or recycled at the cardboard banks at bring sites around the town. Some charities recycle Christmas cards as a way of raising money, so it’s worth keeping an eye out for those, too.

Wrapping paper - Unfortunately, wrapping paper cannot be accepted for recycling as it is often dyed or laminated, or contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver coloured shapes. Glitter and plastics cannot be recycled. If you want to be really green over the festive period, do consider how you wrap gifts in the first place.

We do not have special doorstep collection for food waste. Please consider composting where this is appropriate – uncooked vegetable matter especially. Please consider freezing and re-using leftovers. As a country we throw away a shocking amount of perfectly edible food.


The amount that we buy over Christmas just to throw away, is difficult to justify if you care at all about environmental impact. It is a season of outrageous waste. Anything you can do over the festive period to reduce your impact, through recycling, more careful shopping, and re-use, will help to make a difference. How much of your Christmas budget are you going to spend in order to send things to landfill? We can, and should do better.

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