North Somerset’s festive recycling results are now in

After another busy festive season of recycling and waste collections in North Somerset, the figures reveal that:

• Crews collected 840 tonnes of recycling in the week after Christmas. This is more than a 70 per cent increase compared to the amount collected on a typical week. 

• Crews collected 657 tonnes of general (black bin) waste. This is 12 per cent more than the amount collected on an average week. 

• Food waste recycling dropped by 8.5 per cent, suggesting that people may be wasting less food, or that they could be choosing not to recycle, with food ending up in the black bin instead.

Many residents also chose to repurpose their real trees, with tree-recycling schemes continuing to prove popular. Over £31,000 was raised for local charities through the schemes, and nearly 2,000 real trees were collected in total, with more than 1,200 coming from North Somerset. Volunteers from St Peter’s Hospice and Weston Hospicecare collected the trees.

Approximately 2,000 trees were also donated to Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm in Wraxall. Most will be chipped and used in land regeneration, and some will be repurposed for animal enrichment. 

Councillor Annemieke Waite, North Somerset Council’s executive member for climate, waste and sustainability, said: “Our North Somerset Environment Company (NSEC) staff, including crews and the teams at the recycling centres, have once again done a stellar job, with some even giving up their Sundays to keep up with increased demand over the festive period and make sure residents weren’t impacted. I’d also like to thank our contractor Glendale, who kindly volunteered resource and equipment so that we could chip donated Christmas trees.

“While it’s great to see that people are recycling, this year’s figures remind us of the importance of trying to limit the amount we buy and consume, particularly at periods like Christmas. We need to try and reduce waste where we can, to help us meet the ambitious targets set in our Recycling and Waste Strategy and to tackle the climate emergency.

“I’m pleased to see that so many residents have got involved with our ‘tree-cycling’ scheme, which we’ve run for the past three years, showing how items can be creatively repurposed while also raising thousands of pounds for charity. It’s a fantastic idea, and I’m excited to see where it goes in the future.”

More information can be found on the council’s website at www.n-somerset.gov.uk/recycling.

Follow North Somerset’s Recycling and Waste team on social media at Facebook (nsrecyclingandwaste) and X (ns_recycling).

Images provided by Noah's Ark Zoo Farm.