The holiday season can be a time of great happiness and joy but it can also be a season of waste. All of the wrapping paper, boxes, cans, jars, and trees left over from holiday celebrations can really pile up and leave bins overflowing the next day. Many councils around the United Kingdom are taking proactive efforts to try and get their residents to decrease waste over the holiday seasons. While some are offering things like free Christmas tree recycling and extra kerbside pickup, others are taking a different approach to limiting the waste of their residents. Public service announcements which encourage residents to recycle and give tips on how to reduce waste have flooded the airwaves over the last few weeks, but there is another approach that may be even more effective.
One way to get people’s attention is by getting into their wallets and pocketbooks, which has led to one council levying fines against residents who abuse their rubbish bins. Residents who have too much rubbish or have bins that are overflowing and untidy will be fined in Northampton. This approach is aimed at getting people to think about certain holiday traditions that happen to be very wasteful. Instead of thinking about ways to deal with the waste after the fact Northampton residents are being encouraged to not create it in the first place.
Electronic devices can be re-used or recycled, paper greeting cards can be recycled, and residents are encouraged to limit wrapping paper as it is made from low grade paper that is often unable to be recycled.
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