Most people think about the night before Christmas but authorities in Northumberland are asking their residents to think about the day after. This is the day when bins are overflowing with holiday rubbish, when people start throwing away items that Santa has replaced and tossing out all of the garbage left in the wake of holiday celebrations. The United Kingdom produces a staggering amount of waste during the holiday season which is why the Northumberland council is asking its residents to think about ways that they can help the environment during the holidays instead of contributing to its demise. In the wake of the failed global summit on climate change in Copenhagen, local councils are increasingly more aware that change will have to come at the local level.
Residents are being encouraged to recycle their Christmas trees at any of the household waste centres in Northumberland, which will be open every day except Christmas and New Year’s Day. Residents are also being urged to recycle electronic devices which they may have replaced during Christmas. People are going to be getting the latest phones and MP3 players, all of which need batteries. The United Kingdom has done a poor job of recycling electronics and residents are being urged to donate items to charity for re-use, or to take them to proper locations to be recycled. Mobile phone batteries can be especially harmful as they leak chemicals into soil that can contaminate drinking water.
It is also a good idea to re-use glass jars that contained things like minced meat, or cookies, as thousands of tonnes of glass are thrown away during the holiday season.
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