When it comes to reducing our waste most of us first think of recycling, but recycling is only one step in a larger picture.

Recycling is a start, and a lot better than throwing waste into your bin, but there are also a lot of different ways to reduce and reuse.

Christmas is a great time to start trying to reduce, reuse and recycle.

  • Reduce – where possible, first try reducing the amount of waste you produce, avoid single use items, and opt for items that do not require any packaging.
  • Reuse – next try reusing your items, bags, straws and coffee cups are just some items you can buy and use again and again.
  • Recycle – the final step, if you can’t reduce or reuse try recycling. Read more here for a full list on what can be recycled in Torbay.

Here are 10 top tips from our recycling support coordinators Alistair, Eden, Rob and Owen to create more space and less waste by reducing, reusing and recycling this Christmas.

1 – Reduce your cardboard intake

The lead up to Christmas can bring a lot of cardboard with it, try reducing your cardboard intake this Christmas.

  • Shop local instead of online to reduce the amount of cardboard you receive
  • If you do shop online try to consolidate your packages and arrange for deliveries to come in one package instead of several

Do not forget, small amounts of cardboard can always go into your compost bin. If you do have lots of large pieces of cardboard, please try to limit the amount you put out with your recycling to two flattened boxes per week.

2 – Reduce your plastic

Are you planning on having a bit of a cleanup before friends and family descend for Christmas?

Do not rush out to the shops to buy some single-use cleaning products, instead try to ‘green your clean’.

Recycle Devon have a great list of alternative cleaning ideas which will help to reduce your single use plastic and many which you can make at home with products you already have.

3 – Reduce your single-use items

Are you planning to have a get together this party season?

Paper straws are not currently recyclable in Torbay and are disposed of using the wheelie bin or seagull sack.

If you are thinking about providing straws make the swap and choose to reuse by switching paper straws for metal or silicon straws and use them again and again.

They are portable, easy to clean and ecofriendly!  They also make a great gift from Secret Santa!

4 - Planning your Christmas dinner early can help reduce food waste produced this Christmas season;

  • Talk to your guests and find out what they do and don’t like
  • Make a shopping list and only buy what you need
  • Make room in your freezer and freeze those Christmas leftovers
  • Share with friends and family and send them home with takeout box or visit your neighbours – not everyone has guests at Christmas time.
  • Get food savy with Love Food, Hate Waste

5 – Reduce your cling film

After Christmas when you are ready to bag up those leftovers, make the swap and go plastic free this Christmas.

Switch your clingfilm and sandwich bags, which cannot currently be recycled in Torbay, for Tupperware containers and beeswax strips.

6 - Reuse old brown paper

Brown paper packaging makes for great wrapping paper, and decorating it, a fun family activity.

There are places that love to pack cardboard boxes full of brown paper. Decorating the paper (no glitter) can make some lovely ‘made with love’ wrapping paper this Christmas.

Friends and family will love some handmade wrapping paper and after Christmas it can be recycled in your boxes with your cardboard.

7 – Recycle Cooking oil  

Cooking at Christmas time may involve the use of cooking oil. Keep an empty bottle nearby and drain your cooled cooking oil into it.

Once full, label the bottle and put on top of your recycling boxes and out for collection.

8 – Recycle your Christmas tree

If you are wondering what to do with your Christmas tree once January comes around, bring it to one of SWISCo’s Christmas tree collection points, where all Christmas trees collected will be sent for composting locally.

You can recycle your Christmas tree on;

  • Saturday 8 January 9am – 2pm
  • Saturday 15 January 9am – 2pm

At: Brixham College, Ranscombe Road in Brixham and Town Hall Car Park, Lymington Road in Torquay. 

You can also bring your Christmas tree to the recycling centre in Paignton, please remember to book an appointment first by clicking here.

9 – Recycle your batteries

Christmas decorations and toys might mean a lot of used batteries around Christmas and New Year.

Do not let them go to waste and recycle them using your weekly kerbside collection. Place batteries in a clearly labelled bag and on top of your recycling boxes.

Placing batteries inside items such as tin cans can cause a hazard, to find out more about recycling your batteries correctly read our blog post disposing of batteries responsibly.

10 – Recycle your food waste

Remember to use your kitchen caddy and food waste bin to dispose of unavoidable food waste such as peelings, small bones, teabags and more.

Read more here for a full list of what food waste can and cannot be recycled this Christmas and all year round. Food bins - Torbay Council

Remember – there are no changes to collections this festive season so place your food waste bin and recycling boxes in their usual place of collection on your collection day.