Call for more recycling over Christmas

Many families across West Sussex will be tucking into mince pies and chocolate gold coins this Christmas, but the council says instead of simply throwing the aluminium foil away, why not pop it in the recycling bin?

Metal is a scarce resource so the more we can recycle, the better for the environment.

Last year, we recycled 46 tonnes of foil in West Sussex.

When combined with used drinks cans this is valued at a staggering £760 per tonne. In fact good quality recycling that is clean and dry is a valuable resource that reduces operational costs, and we could recycle so much more.

That 46 tonnes equates to about 28,500 miles of flattened foil – enough to run from the top to the bottom of Great Britain 47 times.

And food and drink cartons, often known as Tetra Paks, can also be recycled – provided they have been rinsed out and are dry.

These are just two interesting facts contained in 12 recycling articles that will appear over the course of 12 days leading up to Christmas on the Recycleforwestsussex.org website.

The articles are designed to help people maximise their recycling, to reuse and reduce waste over the Christmas period and to make sure people are ensuring materials for recycling are being stored clean, dry and loose.

They are also designed to ensure people are putting out the correct materials for kerbside collection.

Lionel Barnard, West Sussex County Council’s Cabinet Member for Residents Services, said: “Christmas is a time for celebrations and parties, but while enjoying the festive fun we want to ensure that people help West Sussex to maintain its good recycling rate.

“With all the parties and families getting together over this festive time, don’t forget to reduce, reuse and recycle and please ensure your recycling is clean, dry and loose.”

For details go to Recycleforwestsussex.org website.