Calderdale is dreaming of a green Christmas

British people will throw away the equivalent of a whopping two million turkeys, five million Christmas puddings and a massive 74 million mince pies once the festive season is over, according to WRAP, the government’s waste reduction advisory body.

But leftover turkeys, sprouts and Christmas puddings can be put to good use thanks to the Council’s weekly food waste collection service.

And used wrapping paper, packaging and glass can avoid the journey to landfill by going to one of Calderdale’s five Household Waste Recycling Centres instead.

In most parts of the country, all of this waste will end up in landfill sites, but in Calderdale residents can ensure their food waste is recycled into a reusable soil enhancer.

Calderdale Council’s food waste collection service has been operated by recycling and resource management company SITA UK since 2009.

The service provides the borough’s 95,000 properties with food caddies for the disposal of leftover food.

After the waste is collected it is broken into a bio material, which is then made into a soil improver.

This service collects around 450 tonnes of food waste a month, keeping it away from landfill.

Councillor Scott Benton (Con, Brighouse), Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Corporate Asset and Facilities Management, Housing and Environment, said: “This year why not make a special effort to minimise the amount of waste produced over Christmas.

“By taking simple steps we can all limit the impact that we have on the environment.

“Place any food waste into your food caddy and visit your local Household Waste Recycling Centre – wrapping paper and Christmas cards are just some of the items that can be recycled.

“Leftovers from any New Year celebrations are also welcome, with the sites able to recover empty glass bottles to help local residents get 2015 off to a green start.”

Britons throw away more than a quarter of a million miles of wrapping paper every Christmas, enough to stretch around the world nine times, 125,000 tonnes of plastic wrapping from toys, 10 million items of turkey packaging and over 13,000 tonnes of glass are also binned once the festivities are over.

Most of this waste could be recycled and in Calderdale there is a weekly recycling collection for glass, cans, plastic bottles, textiles and paper as well as food waste.

All of the Household Waste Recycling sites, at Milner Royd, Mearclough, Sowerby Bridge; Lee Bank, Ovenden Road, Halifax; Ainleys, Elland; Atlas Mill Road, Brighouse; and Eastwood, Todmorden, are open during the holiday period between 8am and 4pm from Monday to Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on Sunday, apart from being closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.

For more information head to the recycling page on the Council’s website.