Recycling this festive season

The festive season inevitably leads to a great deal of waste, and we’d like to help make sure we’re recycling as much as possible.

We want to share the best way of recycling popular Christmas items, including wrapping paper, biscuit tins and metal lids from glass jars.

Remember, everything recycled should be kept clean and dry. We can’t collect recycling in plastic bags or bin liners so make sure to keep it loose!

Christmas trees

If you have a real Christmas tree this year, there are different ways to recycle them.

You can arrange for local charity Off the Fence, supported by Just Helping, to collect your tree from your home for a charitable contribution. Book your collection with Just Helping.

Alternatively, our Christmas tree recycling points will be open from Wednesday 27 December 2023 until Monday 22 January 2024. To find your nearest site, visit our Christmas tree recycling webpage.

Please don't leave trees on the pavement, road or beside a communal bin. This is fly-tipping and you could be fined.

Wine bottles and chutney jars

Beer, wine and spirit bottles and jars from jam, chutney, cranberry sauce and even goose fat can all be recycled in your recycling bin or box.

Any glass container can be recycled, including fragrance, perfume and aftershave bottles too!

We also now accept metal lids from any jar or bottle in glass recycling. Just put it back on the glass container and put it out as normal.

Make sure to rinse and wash out all glass bottles and jars and recycle separate from your other mixed recycling.

Snack tubes, tubs and milk cartons

Tetra Pak cartons for different types of milk and fruit juice need to be recycled separately to your mixed kerbside and communal recycling. This is because they have to be processed at a specialist facility so need to be collected separately.

This also applies to cylindrical tubs and tubes for items such as gravy granules, Pringles and other crisps, snacks, crackers and pastry.

Cartons can be all be recycled at one of our 21 carton recycling points across Brighton & Hove. Please empty, wash, squash and pop plastic lids back on before recycling.

To find your closest carton recycling point, visit our food and drinks carton webpage.

In November, we agreed to roll out 54 additional recycling bins for food and drink cartons to make recycling these easier. Look out for them in the New Year!

Gift boxes and wrapping paper

Plain wrapping paper, greeting cards, gift bags and boxes and cardboard boxes can be put in your recycling bin or box.

Any items covered in foil or glitter can’t be recycled and must go in your general waste.

Remember to remove sticky tape, flatten large boxes and keep everything dry for recycling.

Biscuit tins and chocolate tubs

Biscuit tins and chocolate tubs can be recycled at our household waste recycling sites (HWRS).

Both of our household waste recycling sites will close at 1pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve and will be closed all day on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Find out Christmas opening hours and what else you can take to our HWRS on our HWRS webpage.

Christmas jumpers and pyjamas

If you’re looking to do a wardrobe clear out in the New Year, there are lots of ways you can sell, swap and donate unwanted items.

Many charity shops across the city would welcome your donations and we also have textile recycling points available across the city.

Clothes and shoes can always have a new life, so please always donate or recycle.

Replacing tech this Christmas

If an electronic item still works, it’s always best to either sell or donate.

If an item is broken and can’t be repaired, or is disposable, then it should be recycled instead of thrown away. Electrical items contain materials that can be reused and some contain hazardous materials that should be disposed of responsibly.

Any electrical item that needs charging or has a cable can be recycled.

Christmas tree lights, laptops, electrical toys, mobile phones, kettles, hairdryers and other small electrical items can be donated or recycled at:

• Small electrical item recycling points
• Household waste recycling sites
• Some large retailers, including Curry’s and B&Q
• RevaluElectricals by Tech-Takeback
• Revaluit Shop by Tech-Takeback
• Charity shops across the city
• Freegle

In the new year, we’ll be rolling out 21 additional recycling bins for electrical items, bringing our total up to 23.

Recycling batteries

Most shops and supermarkets that sell batteries will have a household battery recycling bin.

These recycling points accept alkaline batteries, used in remotes, and lithium batteries, found in electrical items which should always be removed before recycling.

You can check if your local shop or supermarket have a battery recycling point on the Take Charge website.

Batteries can also be taken to our Household Waste Recycling Sites.

Recycling and refuse collection changes

Your collection days will move back during the Christmas period. Please put your recycling and refuse out by 6am on:

Collections return to normal from Monday 15 January.

You can check your collection days using our bin and box collection day checker by putting in your postcode. You can now also download your 2024 collection calendars if you have fortnightly collections.

Garden waste collections stop over Christmas and new year. The final collection day is Friday 22 December, with the service resuming from Monday 8 January.