Tips to enjoy a more sustainable Christmas

‘Tis the season to recycle – that’s the message Redland City Council is sending to the community this festive season to prevent items like wrapping paper ending up in landfill.

Mayor Jos Mitchell said residents could put themselves on Santa’s nice list by ‘lifting the right lid’ and ensuring all recyclable materials were being placed in their kerbside yellow-lid bin.

“Households tend to generate more waste during the festive season, so we are asking our community to ensure they are recycling as much as possible,” the Mayor said.

“Once gifts are unwrapped, make sure you collect the wrapping paper, cardboard and hard plastic materials and dispose of them in your yellow-lid bin.

“Other materials such as bubble wrap, polystyrene and cellophane need to be placed in your general waste bin or consider storing them away and using them for gift packaging again next Christmas.

“The community’s efforts to separate out their waste is key to reducing the amount of recyclable material currently ending up in landfill on Redlands Coast.

“According to our audits, recyclable items make up about 16 per cent of what is being disposed of in general waste bins, with the most common culprits being cardboard, paper, and hard plastic.

“Every effort to dispose of waste sustainably in your household and at your workplace will make a big difference in Council achieving its goal of becoming a zero-waste society by 2050.”

The Mayor also urged households to ensure they were keeping batteries and other hazardous items such as gas bottles out of kerbside bins.

“These items pose a significant risk to our waste and recycling truck drivers as well as the community and should never be disposed of in your yellow-lid or red-lid bins,” the Mayor said.

“Drivers have had close calls in the past with gas bottles being put in waste and recycling bins and batteries catching fire mid trip, and we don’t want to see an incident like this happen again.

“Gas bottles can be taken back to the retailer or dropped off at one of Council’s Recycling and Waste Centres, and you can dispose of batteries at dedicated drop-off points.”

For more waste and recycling tips, including how to dispose of hazardous waste safely, visit the Redland City Council website.

Redland City Council provides a suite of services to 166,873 residents and more than 63,000 residential households across Redlands Coast. Our naturally wonderful city on Quandamooka Country is home to more than 335 kilometres of coastline, six island communities and 12 mainland suburbs.