Have a Green Christmas

(Date of issue: Tuesday, 7 December 2010)

Santa is going ‘green’ this Christmas and will be lending a hand spreading recycling messages to Carlisle residents on Monday, 20 December 2010.

Mr Claus will be decked out in a green costume and will make a special appearance in Carlisle’s city centre between 11am and 2pm. He will be urging local householders to follow his example and have a ‘green’ festive season by reducing, reusing and recycling.

A ‘green grotto’ will also be set up as part of Carlisle City Council and Resource Cumbria recycling roadshow and will be decorated with recycled materials. Local children will be able to receive a free eco-gift from Santa when they bring along one item of recycling e.g. a plastic bottle or newspaper (while stocks last).

Cllr Ray Bloxham, Portfolio holder for Local Environment, said:

“Every year, around three million tonnes of waste is dumped in the UK during the Christmas period – enough to fill 120million wheelie bins. We wish all our residents a Merry green Christmas and hope that after all the cards and presents have been opened, the Christmas meal and drinks have ended, residents remember to recycle their festive waste.”

The green roadshow has been organised in conjunction with Resource Cumbria. Advice on how to recycle in Carlisle over the festive period will also be available at the roadshow:

How to have a green Christmas:

• If you have a Greenbox, you can recycle the following items at the kerbside or at a local recycling point: wrapping paper; Christmas cards; clean and empty glass bottles & jars and clean and empty drinks & food cans and empty aerosol cans. Please do not put anything in plastic carrier bags.
• You can recycle your real Christmas trees using your Garden Waste bin (place it beside the bin, on the day of your collection, if it is too big to go inside). In the New Year, to help speed up your garden waste collections, please do not place your garden waste bin out for collection unless it is at least half full.
• If you have Greenbags you can recycle the following items from the kerbside or from recycling points: cardboard food and packaging boxes (please place beside your cardboard bag if it will not fit in); hard plastic packaging; plastic bottles, plastic biscuit trays & other plastic trays/food tubs. Please put plastics in one bag and cardboard in the other as we cannot recycle mixed bags.

Festive Refuse and Recycling Collections

There will be NO changes to your collection dates over the Christmas and New Year periods. Collection days will be as usual.

Remember to recycle your real Christmas trees using your garden waste bin. You can place it beside the bin on the day of the collection, if it is too big to go inside.

For further information on recycling in Carlisle, visit www.carlisle.gov.uk /refuseandrecycling or telephone 01228 817200.

Ends

Notes to Editors:

Some additional tips to have a ‘green’ Christmas:

• Look out for presents made from recycled materials or those that have recycled content;
• Go for gift bags or boxes instead of wrapping paper. A gift bag or box can then be re-used for another occasion or stick to tradition and put presents inside a Christmas stocking that can be reused next year;
• Buy rechargeable batteries for all the children’s news toys and electrical gadgets - for every 500 charges you will save 499 batteries being thrown away; and
• Keep the Christmas cards you receive this year and re-use them next year as gift tags or to make in to cards again.