Christmas is coming and as usual there are some temporary changes to waste collections in the Vale of White Horse over the festive season. Residents of can visit www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/bankholidaycollections to find out when to put their bin out over Christmas and new year. The district council suspends garden waste collections for a week over Christmas so there’s more manpower to collect the extra recycling created at this time of year, but residents can put out double in a special garden waste week in spring and autumn next year. Residents can recycle the vast majority of their Christmas waste - chocolate tins, foil trays, chocolate boxes, plastic meat trays and cardboard sleeves, advent calendars, plastic tubs and lids, and cardboard Christmas crackers all go in the green recycling bin. Food waste is another important one – this goes in the food waste bin, and must not go in the green recycling bin. If residents have food trays, they should give them a quick rinse. They don’t have to be spotless, but any food left behind can contaminate the load, meaning that lots of recyclable material ends up being incinerated. Residents can also recycle small electrical items and textiles like old clothes and bedsheets that aren’t good enough to take to charity. They can put electricals in a carrier bag next to their grey bin, and textiles in a tied carrier bag next to their green bin. If residents have a real Christmas tree, they can find out what to do with it once Christmas is over at www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/christmastrees. If bad weather means the council can’t empty the bin, residents can leave it out for three days. If the council can’t empty it after three days, residents can bring it back in and it’ll be emptied next time it’s due. Check the councils’ websites and Twitter for details of disruptions. Councillor Matthew Barber, Leader of Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “There’s a lot more waste produced at Christmas time and most of it can be recycled. There may be some bits and pieces that residents aren’t sure about, so it’s worth checking our website to find out which bin they go in.” “While we hope there isn’t much leftover food, any scraps need to go in the food waste bin. If food waste gets into the green recycling bins, it can spoil the whole load which means that a lot of recycling goes to waste.” Councillor Elaine Ware, cabinet member for waste for Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “There’s a lot of food packaging around at this time of year. To make sure it doesn’t contaminate recycling, residents should wash out their food packaging before it goes in the green bin. It helps keep things a bit more fragrant, but also means that there’s no leftover bits of food to contaminate the rest of the recycling.” “Our residents are fantastic at recycling, and we want to make sure that their hard work doesn’t go to waste because of some dirty containers.” The councils would like to thank residents of both districts for their outstanding effort with recycling which has put them at the top this year’s recycling leagues. Keep up the sterling work, and merry Christmas and a happy new year!