Waste and recycling collection dates will change over the Christmas and New Year period, so people need to check their revised collection dates on the Wiltshire Council website. There will be no collections on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Garden waste collections will stop for two weeks over this period. The last collections will take place on Thursday 24 December and they will restart on Saturday 9 January 2021, for those households that were due a collection on Friday 8 January. All collections, including garden waste, return to normal from Monday 11 January 2021.
Only Amesbury, Marlborough, Melksham, Purton will be open from 10am-1pm on 24 December. All household recycling centres will be closed from 1pm on 24 December and all day on 25 and 26 December and 1 January. Other than on these dates, the centres will open as normal on their specified opening days. People will need to book a slot online before visiting a household recycling centre.
Bridget Wayman, Wiltshire Council cabinet member for waste said, “This has been a difficult year for our collection crews who kept working throughout both lockdowns and I would like to thank them for their dedication in keeping the collection service running.
“The Christmas and New Year period is a very busy time for our waste contractors, with lots more waste and recycling to collect than normal. The team will work tirelessly to collect all the recycling and waste generated and to get collections back to their normal schedule by Monday 11 January.
“This Christmas we would like everyone to recycle as much as they can including wrapping paper which scrunches into a ball and doesn’t bounce back*, cardboard packaging, plastic sweet tubs, mince pie foil cases, drink cans, glass bottles and Christmas cards without glitter or plastic decorations can all be recycled. Local charity shops may be happy to receive donations of any unwanted Christmas presents.”
Additional recyclable material such as cans, cardboard and paper can be placed in suitable alternative containers alongside your bin. Flatten cardboard and wash and squash plastic bottles and cartons and put their lids back on as this will help make more room in your blue-lidded bin.
It’s really important that people do not place batteries or electrical items into any of their bins as these have caused fires in the collection vehicles and at waste facilities.
People who pay to have their garden waste collected can put their real Christmas tree out alongside their garden waste bin on their first collection day in January so that we can collect it for composting, or they can support local charities by paying a small donation for a charity to collect. This is done via the Just Helping scheme at https://charityxmastreecollection.com/
For information about local recycling centres, recycling Christmas trees, collection days and advice on how to reduce waste and recycle as much as possible during the festive period visit wiltshire.gov.uk/rubbish-and-recycling
*The scrunch test is when you try to squeeze paper into a ball and it doesn’t stay scrunched – this indicates that it contains other materials as well as paper which means we cannot collect it for recycling.
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