Make it a green Easter

Easter is the biggest chocolate-selling period of the year after Christmas. Around 80 million chocolate eggs are sold in the UK. This generates almost 5,000 tonnes of foil, plastic and card. This can all be recycled by residents in their blue bins. Plastic containers and cardboard egg boxes just need to be empty and as clean as possible before going into the blue bin.

Extra waste generated in the UK at Easter is equivalent to the weight of around 600 double decker buses. Residents are being encouraged to choose products with less packaging – and so reduce the amount of waste they generate - and recycle as much as possible.

The usual bin collection days will change due to the bank holidays before and after Easter. The revised collection days are shown in the table below:

South Cambridgeshire and Cambridge residents can put out additional recycling with their blue bins. One transparent sack with recycling (except glass) and one bundle of cardboard tied together, broken down to a size which would fit in the bin if there was space, will be collected.

Head of the Greater Cambridge Shared Waste Service between South Cambridgeshire District and Cambridge City Councils, Trevor Nicoll, said: “Please do double check your bin collection days on the Council websites because there are changes before and after Easter because of the bank holidays. When you do get around to putting them out, please make sure you recycle as much as possible in your blue bin. Cardboard and plastic food containers should go inside, as should foil – scrunched up into a ball to make sure it stays together and can be sorted effectively in the recycling plant. By recycling you’re really making a difference to the environment. It needs far less energy – and so creates less pollution – to recycle products rather than create entirely new ones.

“While shopping for Easter, consider buying items with as little packaging as possible, for example Easter eggs only in aluminium foil or loose fruit and vegetables. If you’re also planning a spring clean during the bank holidays, then please make sure you keep clothes and textiles out of your bins. It costs the Councils thousands of pounds to deal with clothes that end up in the blue bin because they get covered in glass, wet, can’t be recycled and so need to be sent to landfill. This is a real waste when clothes can be passed on to bring joy to someone else, taken to a charity shop or placed in a clothing bank.”

Bin collection changes due to Easter and May bank holidays can be found in the latest editions of the Councils’ magazines. Residents can also download their own tailored bin collection calendar at www.cambridge.gov.uk/binday for people living in Cambridge or www.scambs.gov.uk/recycling for those living in South Cambridgeshire.

 Residents planning on a spring clean over the upcoming bank holiday weekends are being encouraged to visit one of Cambridgeshire’s household recycling centres, such as those at Milton or Thriplow, to re-use and recycle as much as possible. These centres are open over the Easter and May bank holidays. Full details are available at www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/waste-and-recycling/household-recycling-centres

Image by Elias Schäfer from Pixabay