Uneaten sprouts, vegetable peel, wrapping paper, boxes, toys broken by boxing day – Christmas creates waste like no other time of the year. Thankfully, it’s easy to stay on top of in South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse.
Residents in the two districts can find out when their bins will be emptied using their smartphones by visiting Binzone at tinyurl.com/thebinzone, and what waste goes in which bin by visiting their council’s website viawww.morerecycling.co.uk
The handy graphic below also shows which bin some of the most common types of Christmas waste goes in.
Garden waste collections are suspended for a week over the festive period. To make up for it, customers of the councils’ brown bin service will get an extra-large collection in the week of 15 May in the Vale and 22 May in South Oxfordshire and another one later in the year in autumn.
On their scheduled collection day from 10 January onwards, customers of the garden waste service can leave out their real Christmas tree next to their brown bin - the district councils will collect them and have them chipped and composted.
Residents without a brown bin can leave their real tree at one of a number of drop-off points around South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse listed on the councils’ websites and listed below.
Cllr Tony Harbour, cabinet member for South Oxfordshire District Council, said: “We rejig the timetable a little bit so our waste crews can spend Christmas with their families, so it’s worth finding out when your bins will be emptied in advance - Christmas can be pretty hectic, and you don’t want to get caught out if you’re going away.”
Cllr Charlotte Dickson, cabinet member for Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “Everybody ends up throwing away quite a lot at Christmas – thankfully most of it can be recycled. You might find you have more than you can fit in your green wheelie bin – if so, just leave it in an open box or clear sack next to the bin.”