Perth and Kinross Council is urging residents to have a waste-free Christmas and New Year.
Items such as clothes, plastics and even electrical items can all be recycled or reused, as the local authority attempts to deter fly-tipping and dumping at landfills.
Environment and infrastructure convenor Councillor Angus Forbes said: “Christmas is a busy time and there is also a lot more waste, whether it is from presents or food.
“We all want to play our part in tackling climate change and making sure we recycle or properly dispose of unwanted items and goods so they don’t wind up in landfill can make a big difference to the plant.”
Among the tips from PKC is to bag unwanted clothes and take them to a local textile recycling bank.
The unwanted items will be sorted at Denny in Stirlingshire before being reused or recycled into something new.
Good quality items can be reused by someone else and the poorer quality items will become anything ranging from car sound-proofing or mattress-stuffing to industrial rags.
More importantly, items won’t be buried in landfill where they’d generate methane and contributing to climate change.
Residents are also being urged to put food waste in their brown-lidded bin, where it will then be recycled at Glenfarg.
PKC revealed that householders with the three bin service (blue bin, green bin and brown bin), on average still fill one third of their green-lidded general waste bin with food waste.
The council is also asking residents to recycle plastic bottles and containers (eg. tubs, food trays, punnets, yoghurt pots, cleaning bottles, drinks bottles, shampoo bottles, sauce bottles and bottle tops) in the kerbside blue-lidded bin.
But to avoid getting a red contamination tag this festive season, it is encouraging everyone in the household over the festive season to only Stick to the Six - www.pkc.gov.uk/sticktothesix
Some items that don’t go in bins can still be recycled.
Anyone wanting to combat climate change even more are encouraged to collect their empty, clean and dry plastic film and carrier bags for returning to selected supermarkets for recycling – find out more at www.pkc.gov.uk/plasticfilm and www.pkc.gov.uk/softplastics
Other waste streams which can’t be recycled at the kerbside are aluminium foil and glass bottles and jars – instead these can be recycled at selected recycling points and at all of PKC’s nine recycling centres – for more details, visit www.pkc.gov.uk/wheretorecycle
Electrical and electronic equipment is another item urged for recycling - with inside components powered by a plug or a battery recoverable during the recycling process.
Instead of putting these items in the green-lidded general waste bin, destined for landfill, resident are asked to make the most of the WEEE Banks at selected recycling points in Auchterarder, Scone and Oakbank, or take them for recycling to any recycling centre.
Those who live in Bertha Park can drop off small items (such as kettles, toasters, hair straighteners, gadgets, etc) to support Bertha Park High School’s WEEE Term which runs until mid-January.
Find out more at www.pkc.gov.uk/weee
To find out more about reducing, reusing and recycling or to check changes to the bin collection dates over the Festive Period, visit www.pkc.gov.uk/recycle, follow Perth and Kinross Council on Facebook at www.facebook.com/perthandkinross or follow the council’s Twitter @perthandkinross
