Merry Christmas to all in the Vale

As we get ready for the festive season, I would like to wish everyone in the Vale of White Horse a very Merry Christmas. The District Council offices will close today and not reopen until Wednesday 2nd January. In the case of a genuine emergency our out of hours service can be contact on 01235 524 886. Hopefully the rain will ease off, but with the ground still saturated in many places and more rain forecast we are making preparations for a wet Christmas. The Vale is already working with partners to put flood protection barries in place in some areas and we have built up our stocks of sand to prepare for the worst. Keep an eye on the Council's website and that of the Environment Agency for the latest info. As ever if there is an immediate threat to life call 999. Below is some other useful information about Council services over the Christmas period... Waste and recycling Up to your ears in wrapping paper, dirty dishes stacked high covered with leftovers, new electrical toys eating through batteries at rate of knots. Ah the joys of the festive season. Worry not though; we have your Christmas waste problems all wrapped up. Our friends at Biffa have also created a festive waste leaflet which includes a competition, which you can download using the link on the right hand side of this page. Collection days We run a slightly adjusted collection calendar over the festive period. See the bank holidays page for details of when your waste will be collected over Christmas. The Christmas waste conundrum The festivities of Christmas come with unfamiliar recycling riddles… precisely which bin do the turkey remains go in? We’ve attended to a few of those mysteries in the diagram below: Christmas waste diagram Inevitably we all create a bit of extra waste at Christmas. Here’s what to do with it…

  • Extra recycling can be left next to your green bin on your normal recycling week, in a clear plastic bag or bin liner or a box.
  • You can leave the lid of the food waste bin open. Otherwise, you can leave extra food waste on top of the lid, tied up in whatever you normally line your caddy with (compostable bag, newspaper etc.)
  • Grey bin rubbish cannot be left as side waste – any extra landfill waste you have can be taken to any of the the county council waste recycling centres.

Let it snow (but only a light dusting please) In the rare eventuality that heavy snow makes it unsafe or impossible for us to carry out our waste collections, we will keep you up to date with what is happening with your collections through a variety of methods.