The office decorations may have come down, but there’s still time to make your festive waste stream circular.
January isn’t most people’s favourite month. After the highs of Christmas and New Year we’re left facing some cold hard weather and icy facts. It’s a long, hard slog until spring arrives, and there’s a lot of cleaning up to do.
Every year, Britons buy between 6 and 8 million trees to celebrate the festivities. Most wind up in homes, but a significant number are also used to bring a little seasonal cheer into the workplace. Regardless of where they stood, these evergreens often wind up on landfill, with up to 160,000 tonnes dumped rather than recycled.
‘Seeing that hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Christmas trees are still ending up as waste each year is concerning,’ said Eva Preston, waste management specialist at WSR Recycling.
‘Even simple things, like leaving tinsel or baubles on the tree, can prevent it from being recycled properly. Small changes at home can make a big difference in keeping these trees out of landfill,’ she continued. ‘A recycled tree has a second use, whether it’s turned into compost, woodchip, or used in flood-prevention projects in some regions. When it goes to landfill, it simply becomes wasted potential.’
Facilities managers and heads of households can take some simple steps to make sure that when the tree they ‘took down’ on the 12th Night is collected waste specialists don’t have to commit it to the dump. Here are five easy fixes to make your Christmas waste stream circular.
1. Remove all decorations
‘Even a single strand of tinsel, wire, or a bauble can prevent a tree from being recycled. Make sure the tree is completely free of decorations before putting it out for collection,’ Preston continued, explaining that ensuring all items are taken off the branches is the best way to guarantee recycling viability.
2. Keep the tree upright and accessible
Making your tree as easy to reach as possible is also important – recycling crews are often contractually limited in terms of how far they can go to collect waste of any kind, for health and safety reasons.
‘Place your tree somewhere it’s easy to collect and avoid leaning it against bins or walls. This makes it safer and simpler for recycling crews to handle,’ suggests Preston.
3. Check local collection schedules
‘Different councils collect trees at different times, so find out when your collection week is. If you miss the window, take it to a local drop-off point if possible,’ she continues.
4. If you have an artificial tree, use it for as long as possible
Artifical trees may seem more environmentally friendly as they don’t involve uprooting and deforestation. However, the average ‘fake’ flora has a significantly larger carbon footprint compared with the genuine article, and on average takes between five and 10 years before it becomes a more sustainable option compared with nature’s own.
Image: CHUTTERSNAP / Unsplash
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