Reduce your festive waste this Christmas

Christmas is the season for eating and gift-giving, but it doesn’t mean it’s the season for all your good recycling habits to go out the window.

Use these helpful tips to make the right decisions about what to do with your festive waste and keep Palmerston North beautiful, all year round.

Gift wrapping, packaging and Christmas cards

Cardboard and wrapping paper can be put in your recycling wheelie bins for collection (the wrapping must be 100% paper).
Metallic and shiny paper wrappings can’t be recycled and must go in your rubbish.
Old Christmas cards can be put in your recycling wheelie bins for collection, as long as they’re glitter and ribbon-free.
Tin foil can't be recycled and must go in your rubbish.
Plastic wrap, courier bags, bubble wrap, plastic bags, and most chocolate bar wrappers are all soft plastics and must go in your rubbish.
Any polystyrene used to package items can be dropped off to Ferguson Street Recycling Centre for a small fee.

No matter how much we indulge on Christmas Day, there always seems to be leftovers.

First off, plan your meals, write shopping lists, and store your food correctly to try and cut back on as much food waste as possible.
Make use of leftovers! Find some inspiration on Love Food Hate Waste’s website.
Food scraps and any leftovers you can no longer use must go in your rubbish, or better yet, your compost.
And if you have excess store-bought food, donate it to Just Zilch or a local food bank.
Remember, egg trays, clean pizza boxes, steel tins and cans, and plastic containers and bottles can all be put in your recycling wheelie bin.

‘Real’ Christmas trees can be recycled and turned into compost for parks. You can drop them off to Awapuni Resource Recovery Park for free from Boxing Day to the end of January.
Unwanted tinsel or Christmas decorations should go in your rubbish if you can't find a new home for them.

If you have unwanted Christmas gifts, think about taking them to a charity or op shop. Check out: