by Kay Lockett
It's time to take down the tinsel and pack away the decorations for another year.
But don't be too hasty in dumping the Christmas tree out on the pavement - there's
still a little life left in the old conifer yet. Take your tree to Kew Gardens and
it will earn you free entrance to the finest botanical collection in the world. www.kew.org
. DIY chain Homebase will be providing recycling facilities at some of its stores
and Ikea will be giving customers a £5 store voucher if you recycle a tree you bought
there. Many local councils in London are also providing recycling facilities. While
Boots the Chemist is running a Christmas card recycling scheme. Card recycling bins
will be in branches until the end of February, with all profits from the scheme being
donated to charity. The Woodland Trust is again running its card recycling scheme.
Find out which shops are involved in the Scheme at www.woodlandtrust.org.uk . If
everyone in the UK recycles just one Christmas card with the Woodland Trust this
year, the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity will be able to plant 15,000
trees. So the Trust wants you to imagine how many trees the charity could plant
if everyone recycles all their cards in the special bins at WHSmith, Tesco, TK Maxx
and Marks & Spencer stores, throughout January. Last year, the Woodland Trust said
the scheme generated more than £100,000. The scheme also helps protect existing British
woodland. Converting the cards into other paper products and saving them from landfill
is expected to avoid about 2,600 tonnes of greenhouse gases. You really can turn
your cards back into trees!
Council recycling services
Wandsworth Council is encouraging residents to have a green new year by taking advantage of the borough's doorstep recycling services over the festive period. Many of the items of rubbish associated with Christmas can be recycled using the council's Orange recycling services.
Wrapping paper can be placed in orange sacks along with Christmas cards, drinks cans, glass bottles, jars, juice cartons and plastic bottles. People should not however put metallic 'foil' style wrapping paper in their recycling bags.
The council will also recycle Christmas trees free of charge as part of its regular refuse and recycling collections. All the trees collected will be shredded and turned into compost. Trees will be collected from the front of households on normal refuse and recycling collection days from Monday, January 11th to Saturday January 23rd. Residents are requested not to leave trees on pavements unless there is nowhere else at the front of your property to leave it. Trees should only be left out on normal collections days and not before.
Recycling collections from home
Wandsworth collects recyclables from your home on a weekly basis. They provide residents with orange sacks that are collected on the same day as your normal rubbish collection. You can recycle glass bottles and jars, paper and card, plastic bottles, all drinks cans, food tins, aerosols, and Tetra Pak food and drinks cartons. Please make sure that your recycling sacks are not put on the pavement before 6:30pm on the evening before your collection day. If you live in a flat and your rubbish is collected in large, wheeled bins, Wandsworth, wherever possible, will provide wheeled recycling banks to enable residents to recycle the same materials for the private use of residents, instead of oranges sacks. For more information to find out when your collections day is call Wandsworth Council on 020 8871 8558 or visit wandsworth.gov.uk. We can all get 2010 off to a green start way by recycling your Christmas cards and trees.
