Christmas and New Year recycling guide for East Riding residents

Christmas and New Year generates more waste than any other time of the year in the East Riding – but the good news is most of it can be recycled.

Last Christmas and New Year more than 9,000 tonnes of waste was collected from East Riding households – and 60% of that was recycled thanks to the brilliant efforts of residents.

The waste and recycling officers at East Riding of Yorkshire Council are issuing some festive advice to help residents recycle even more during the holiday period.

Christmas trees, cards, wrapping paper, gift boxes … even the bones from a turkey … can all be recycled at home by putting them in the correct bin.

This year the waste and recycling officers are asking residents to make an extra effort to recycle plastic packaging.

In the East Riding, the majority of plastic items can be recycled in the blue bin, including:

• Bottles and bottle tops
• Food and drink cartons
• Yogurt pots and other dessert pots
• Tubs including those from spreads, ice creams and sweets
• Food trays

Residents are asked to place these items loose in the blue bin, not in bags. Please also make sure they are empty and clean, with no food or liquids inside them.

Thinner materials can’t be recycled and need to go in the green bin, including:

• Black plastic bags and charity bags
• Food bags (from bread, frozen and fresh food)
• Crisp and sweet packets and wrappers
• Food pouches including pet food
• Toothpaste tubes and other cosmetic tubes
• Straws
• Cling film, bubble wrap and polystyrene

Although these can’t be recycled they won’t end up in landfill. All green bin waste is converted into refuse derived fuel (RDF), and taken to a multifuel plant where it is used in the generation of electricity.

Hard, rigid plastics should be taken to household waste recycling sites where there is a designated collection point, including:

• Buckets
• Children’s toys (please remove batteries)
• Garden furniture
• Guttering and pipes

Paul Tripp, head of streetscene services for East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “Residents in the East Riding are fantastic at supporting our recycling schemes but there’s more we can all do, especially over Christmas and the New Year.

“The amount of waste packaging sky-rockets at this time of year, but the good news is the vast majority can be recycled at home, so please help us to recycle even more by putting your waste in the right bins.”

Here is a Christmas guide to bin collections and recycling in the East Riding: 

Bin collection dates will change over the Christmas and New Year period, but will return to normal from Monday 13 January.

To find out when your bins will be collected, look out for the 2020 bin collection calendar which will be delivered through letterboxes in early December.

The calendar also includes a recycling guide, so if you’re not sure which bin to put an item of waste in, just have a look at the guide.

You can also find your festive bin collection dates by visiting the website bins.eastriding.gov.uk and typing in your postcode. You can also download a copy of your calendar from here.

You can also sign up for the council’s free text message reminder service for bin collections – more than 55,000 residents already have!

Details of how to sign up for the text service are on the 2019 Bin Collection Calendars.

Household waste recycling sites in the East Riding will be open throughout the holidays from 10am to 5pm each day, on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve when they will close at 4pm. They will be closed all day on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

Blue bins can be used to recycle Christmas cards, envelopes, wrapping paper, cardboard and cardboard boxes, plastic tubs and trays, all glass and plastic bottles and jars, cans, tins, aerosols, tin foil, foil trays, books, newspapers, magazines, juice cartons, egg boxes.

Please make sure they are all empty, clean and put them loose in the blue bin.

Brown bins can be used to recycle all cooked and uncooked food waste, including plate scrapings, peelings, meat, turkey and other bird carcasses, meat bones, egg shells, tea bags and small amounts of sauces, creams and soups. Any garden waste can also go in the brown bin.

Free kitchen caddy liners to put your food inside are available at household waste recycling sites, customer service centres, libraries, mobile libraries and leisure centres.

Real Christmas trees can be recycled by placing them next to your brown bin on collection days in January, or they can be taken to household waste recycling sites. Please remove all lights and decorations.

Broken Christmas lights and other unwanted electrical items can be taken to the small electricals section at household waste recycling sites.

Batteries – please don’t put them in your bins! Instead please take them to supermarkets and local shops which have battery recycling collection boxes or to any household waste recycling site.

Crisp packets and polystyrene cannot be recycled, so please place these in your green bin.

Clothing, shoes and textiles cannot go in your bins, so please take these to local clothing recycling banks or to charity shops.

Unwanted Christmas gifts can be donated to charity shops or taken to household waste recycling sites for donation to the Dove House charity reuse shop at the Humberfield household waste recycling site, near Hessle.