Torbay Council is reminding residents to recycle their waste this Christmas and New Year. Last Christmas in the UK we threw away nearly 300,000 tonnes of card packaging. If this isn't recycled correctly, precious resources and energy are wasted.

Over the Christmas period, Torbay Council urges you to recycle as much paper and card as you can. Don’t forget that it’s not just the big cardboard boxes and mounds of wrapping paper that we should be recycling; old TV magazines, toilet roll tubes and the like should also be sorted! If everyone in Torbay recycled just two toilet rolls, it would save enough energy to power Torbay Hospital for an entire day.

Executive Lead with responsibility for waste, Councillor Mark King said: “With so much happening at Christmas, it’s a good opportunity to take a breath and consider how we can maximize our recycling efforts.

“Get the family involved in spotting any paper and card that can be recycled while buying or unwrapping presents or preparing the Christmas meal. Last year, one million tonnes of paper and card packaging was collected for recycling in the UK so we’re already doing a great job! Let’s all try and do more in Torbay this year?”

For more information about your local recycling scheme, including details of collection dates over Christmas and New Year, visit www.torbay.gov.uk/christmas-recycling. Further information about recycling can be found at www.recyclenow.com