by Jo Winrow City Hall Reporter Bradford’s Christmas recycling drive has started with a bang.

The average family will create almost a third more waste than usual during the festive period.

And that is why the Council is encouraging people to make sure they recycle as much as possible to reduce the amount that goes to landfill.

Christmas trees and cards can be recycled as well as empty glass jars and used batteries.

The district’s eight household waste recycling centres, including a refurbished one at Queensbury, can take a range of materials for recycling.

And glass bottles and jars, cans, tins and aerosols, paper, white card and wrapping paper (without glitter or foil) can be recycled through the kerbside recycling collection service.

Christmas trees can also be put out for kerbside collection where there is a garden waste service, taken to household waste recycling centres or participating garden centres.

There is no need to chop them up.

Residents should check their garden waste calendar for their next collection date.

Christmas cards without glitter or foil can be placed in the paper bin, or residents can take all kinds of cards to WH Smith, TK Maxx, Marks & Spencer or Tesco to be recycled by the Woodland Trust.

Residents are being also urged to think about ways they can reuse their rubbish, either by giving unwanted gifts or old toys to charity, making tags out of Christmas cards, reusing gift bags for next year and even using the wires that come in gift packaging in the garden.

Plenty of tips and advice are available on the Council’s website.

Councillor Anne Hawkes-worth, the executive member for environment and culture, said: “Christmas is a lot of fun but it also creates a lot of waste. We are asking residents to think about what they put in the bin, and whether it can be recycled or put to good use.”

l Residents are also being reminded to check their rubbish collection times over the Christmas period.

Households that normally get their bins collected on a Thursday will get a collection on Monday, December 22, instead of Christmas Day and Monday, December 29, instead of New Years Day. For residents with bin collections on a Friday, bins will be collected on Saturday, December 27 instead of Boxing Day.

All other refuse collections remain unchanged.

Everyone in the district who has recycling wheeled bins should have received a new calendar sticker over the last few weeks.

This has the new collection dates on it for the next two years as well as information about what can and cannot be put into the recycling bins.

Details of recycling collections over Christmas and New Year are also on the new sticker.

l A full list of what can be recycled at which household waste recycling centre is available on the Council’s website at www.bradford.gov.uk/christmasrecycle.