With Christmas fast approaching, the Council’s Waste team is encouraging residents to recycle as much as they can during the festive period.

The customary traditions of feasting, celebrating and the exchanging of gifts means that waste from consumer packaging is produced in far greater quantity than at any other time of the year. However, you don’t need to put it all in a black sack! Follow our handy advice below to ensure you do your part for the environment by recycling as much as you can over this coming Christmas.

How should I recycle my Christmas cards and wrapping paper?

Follow the guidance in the table below to see how to recycle greetings cards and wrapping paper over Christmas:

Waste type	Waste container
Christmas cards without glitter or embellishments White and brown wrapping paper Non-glittery/non-metallic wrapping paper	Green recycling box
Christmas cards with glitter and/or embellishments Glittery/metallic wrapping paper	Black bin or reusable seagull sack

What can I do with all my leftover food waste?

As disappointing as it is to see good food go to waste, for any peelings, plate scrapings and leftovers, make sure you use your blue kerbside caddy. If your caddy is full, you can place any extra food waste in a compostable liner or a plastic bag and leave it on top of your caddy on the day of collection.

You can also visit Recycle Devon's Love Food Hate Waste webpage for help and tips on how to waste less food and save money.

How can I recycle my real Christmas tree?

This year all residents can put their real Christmas trees out to be collected from Friday 27 December to Saturday 11 January. Place Christmas trees out for collection on your scheduled food and garden waste collection days (the opposite week to your recycling collection). Please note we can only accept Christmas trees with a trunk no bigger than 4 inches/100mm in diameter.

Alternatively, Hospiscare is offering to collect and recycle your real Christmas tree for a small donation. Hospiscare volunteers will be heading out to collect these on Thursday 9, Friday 10 and Saturday 11 January 2025.

Will my collection days be affected by the Christmas and New Year holidays?

Depending on your weekly cycle, your collection days could be delayed by up to two days following Christmas and the New Year, until our collection teams work the following successive Saturdays to catch up.

To find out your revised collection dates, you can:

• refer to the table below
• check your waste collection calendar
• visit our Christmas & New Year collections webpage
• use our online collection day look-up

The refuse and recycling teams will be working hard to ensure your collections are completed as scheduled, but please bear in mind, this will likely be at times later than usual due to the greater amounts of waste put out for collection.

If you do need to report a missed collection this can be done via our website.

Normal collection day	Revised collection day
Wednesday 25 December (Christmas Day)	Friday 27 December
Thursday 26 December (Boxing Day)	Saturday 28 December
Friday 27 December	Monday 30 December
Monday 30 December	Tuesday 31 December
Tuesday 31 December	Thursday 2 January
Wednesday 1 January (New Year’s Day)	Friday 3 January
Thursday 2 January	Saturday 4 January
Friday 3 January	Monday 6 January
Monday 6 January	Tuesday 7 January
Tuesday 7 January	Wednesday 8 January
Wednesday 8 January	Thursday 9 January
Thursday 9 January	Friday 10 January
Friday 10 January	Saturday 10 January

Please note: all waste should be out by the kerbside by 6:00am on the revised collection days.

Refuse and recycling collections will return to normal week commencing 13 January 2025.

For more information on recycling at Christmas and for handy hints, visit:

• Recycle Devon
• www.middevon.gov.uk/christmasrecycling