Residents across Bath and North East Somerset are being reminded of temporary changes to waste and recycling collections across the area over the festive period.
Locals have been receiving leaflets through the post from Bath & North East Somerset Council, advising them of changes to collection dates over Christmas and New Year, and additional details of how to recycle real Christmas trees.
No recycling or rubbish collections will be taking place on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, 28th December or New Year’s Day. Garden waste collections are being paused from Monday 7th December through to Friday 15th January.
Real Christmas trees can be collected from 18th January after garden waste collections resume, taken to a local recycling centre or collected by Dorothy House.
The charity has a dedicated website for people who live in BA1, BA2, BA3 and BS31 postcodes to arrange for their Christmas tree to be collected by volunteers. Keynsham is a new collection area added for 2021.
B&NES Council’s recycling centres will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, 27th December and New Year’s Day.
This year, wrapping paper will no longer be collected for recycling and will have to be thrown away in general refuse.
Bath & North East Somerset Council says this is because it uses UK-based recycling plants, and the paper mills are now demanding higher quality paper for recycling.
Councillor David Wood, joint cabinet member for Neighbourhood Services and Climate Emergency, said: “A huge amount of waste is generated over the Christmas period and we all need to think about how we can reduce the amount our own household contributes.
“We need to use our food waste bins, green box and recycling bags as much as we can to recycle everything possible.
“A way to reduce the amount of waste put into black bins is to avoid buying things that will be thrown away in the first place and to avoid unnecessary packaging and wrapping paper.”
Speaking about the Christmas tree recycling, Steph Cox, Community Fundraiser at Dorothy House, said: “This will be our fifth Christmas tree collection and we’re looking forward to helping local people recycle their used Christmas trees, while also raising vital funds for Dorothy House.
“Last collection we raised more than £42,000 which went a long way to support people in the local community.
“We couldn’t do this without the generous support of supporters and also to the volunteers who give up their time to collect all of the trees.”
Residents are being reminded that if any members of their household have the symptoms of Covid-19, personal waste such as tissues, disposable cleaning cloths, masks, should be double bagged, tied securely and kept separate from other waste for at least 72 hours before being put in their black wheelie bin or re-usable rubbish bag.
Any personal waste put in recycling boxes will not be collected.
