New dates for waste collection at Christmas
Bath and North East Somerset Council has confirmed the revised dates for bin collections in the region over Christmas and new year.
The Christmas period sees a number of public holidays which distort the collection schedule for residents across the country, with many people seeing their usual collection dates fall on one of the major days of the holiday period.
The council has confirmed the dates that there will be no rubbish or recycling collections.
No bins will be collected in the region on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, December 28 or New Year’s Day, but will continue as normal on the other days in the Christmas period.
Garden waste collections will also be paused for a longer period, with these being suspended from now until January 15.
There has also been a major change to the recycling collections this year, with the council no longer able to accept wrapping paper as part of household recycling.
This is a result of the council using Uk-based recycling plants, saving the need for recycling waste to be sent overseas.
Paper mills in the UK require higher-quality paper than that used in wrapping paper for recycling.
Residents are also reminded that if any members of their household have the symptoms of Covid, personal waste such as tissues, disposable cleaning cloths, masks, should be double bagged, tied securely and kept separate from other waste for at least 72 hours before being put into rubbish or recycling.
After garden waste collections resume, anyone disposing of real Christmas trees can have them collected by the council.
This will be possible for January 18, with trees also able to be taken to a recycling centre or collected by Dorothy House.
Steph Cox, community fundraiser at Dorothy House, said: “This will be our fifth Christmas tree collection and we’re looking forward to helping local people recycle their used Christmas trees, while also raising vital funds for Dorothy House. Last collection we raised more than £42,000 which went a long way to support people in the local community.
“We couldn’t do this without our generous supporters and also the volunteers who give up their time to collect all of the trees.”
Residents will be advised by the council by post on the new collection dates.
The council’s recycling centres will be closed to the public on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, December 27 and New Year’s Day.
Councillor David Wood, joint cabinet member for neighbourhood services and climate emergency, said: “A huge amount of waste is generated over the Christmas period and we all need to think about how we can reduce the amount our own household contributes.
“We need to use our food waste bins, green box and recycling bags as much as we can.
“A way to reduce the amount of waste put into black bins is to avoid buying things that will be thrown away in the first place and to avoid unnecessary packaging and wrapping paper.”