Skip to main content
Eastleigh Borough Council
  • Residents
  • Business
  • Council
  1. Home
  2. Latest news
  3. Christmas recycling

What to do with your Christmas waste

22 December 2021
Tags:
  • Your Council
  • Greener Borough
Christmas Mess Small

Tin foil  

Rinse and take to your local collection point for recycling.

Plastic

The only plastic we accept in our recycling bins is plastic bottles. Please place other plastic waste in your household waste (black) bin.

Some supermarkets and local co-ops have collections for 'soft plastics'.

Wrapping paper

If it is shiny, glittery or hard to tear, it is likely the wrapping paper is made from mixed materials and cannot currently be recycled. Please place it in your household waste (black) bin.

If your paper can be recycled, pop it in your green recycling bin. If you are careful with your unwrapping, you could reuse it to wrap presents next year!

Glass bottles/jars

Rinse and place in your black box or take to your nearest bottle bank.

Batteries

Place in a clear (sandwich) bag on top of your glass bottles/jars in your black box and we will recycle them.

Decorations/gifts

Donate any unwanted gifts/decorations to local charity shops, so they can be reused rather than disposed of.

Food waste 

All bones, uncooked food and leftovers can be disposed of in your brown food waste bin, just wrap it in newspaper or compostable liners for us to recycle. 

Cardboard boxes

Flatten any large boxes and you can leave them beside your green recycling bin to be collected for recycling.

Christmas lights etc.

Any electrical items which are broken or damaged can be recycled - take them to your nearest Household Waste Recycling Centre (HWRC).

Christmas cards

Recycle greeting cards by putting them in your green recycling bin or cut them us and reuse them as gift tags on future presents!

Sweet tins and boxes

If sweet tins are made of metal they can go in your green recycling bin. If they are plastic, please put them in your black household waste bin.

Textiles

If you've received some new socks over Christmas and want to get rid of some older one, you can take them and other textiles to a textile recycling bank - most HWRCs have them.

Real Christmas trees
If you subscribe to our garden waste scheme, we will collect your real Christmas trees on your scheduled collection day just place it next to your garden waste bin. We can only collect trees that are up to 4ft in length, so please cut longer trees to this size.

Excess recycling
Please make sure you squash down cans and cardboard boxes to fit as much in your recycling bin as possible. If you still have excess recycling, this can be placed in a cardboard box at the side of your recycling bin on your collection day. 

Contact details
  • Eastleigh Borough Council, Eastleigh House, Upper Market Street, Eastleigh, SO50 9YN
  • Telephone: 023 8068 8000
Support links
  • Jobs
  • Newsletter
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility
  • Feedback
  • Contact
  • Built by Etch

© Copyright 2023 Eastleigh Borough Council