Vast Christmas rubbish mountain needs to be recycled and cleared away (and we can all help) – Angus Robertson

This is the busiest time of the year for waste disposal as we all get rid of mountains of Christmas packaging, wrapping-paper, delivery boxes, bottles and food waste.

Please dispose of your old Christmas tree properly (Picture: John Devlin)

In Edinburgh, more than 5,000 tonnes of waste is usually generated over the festive break. The scale of the festive waste challenge is illustrated by the fact that enough Christmas wrapping paper is thrown away in the UK to stretch from here to the North Pole 100 times.

Just as quick as communal bins have been filled to bursting across the capital, squads of Edinburgh’s waste disposal staff have been doing their rounds to empty them.

It is difficult to imagine what a state the city’s streets would be if there was not the efficient and professional service that we all enjoy. I am sure you will join me in extending a huge thank you to all of the collection and disposal staff.

In the next weeks, our biggest recycling challenge will be dealing with our Christmas trees. When the time comes, we are advised to either take our trees to any of our Household Waste Recycling Centres or put them out on our streets on the allocated collection day.

While the recycling centres are open seven days a week, we still have to book an appointment and are advised to snip off the branches to transport the tree easily.

Otherwise, please only put your tree on the street for collection on the correct day. Full details are available on the Edinburgh Council website at www.edinburgh.gov.uk/bins-recycling.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.