Enjoy a low waste Christmas!

The festive season is a great time to consider reducing waste and sharing resources with others.

Here are some suggestions to help you save money, energy and transport costs, give stuff new life and be kinder to the planet.

• Consider buying reused second-hand gifts from charity shops and online retailers.
• If you’re having a clear-out, recycle by donating your unwanted items. Recycle old clothes in the textile recycling banks at most recycling points in the city.
• Gift experiences rather than physical items or send ecards.
• If you are buying cards, cards covered in glitter or foil can’t be recycled, neither can foil wrapping paper. The simpler the better!
• Save ribbons, wrapping paper and gift bags to use again.
• Plan your Christmas dinner and purchase consciously. Use a shopping list to avoid being tempted by supermarket Christmas deals on food you do not need.

You can also help reduce low grade plastics in the waste system by reusing containers or bottles to stock up at refill stations.

It’s great to buy local and try shopping plastic-free. For information on where to buy plastic-free in Brighton & Hove, visit the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership website.

• Read the WWF’s top tips for a sustainable Christmas
• More actions to reduce, re-use and recycle

Christmas week recycling and refuse collection changes

Your collection days are moving back a day over Christmas week – please put your recycling and refuse out by 6am on…  

Collections return to your usual days from Monday 2 January.

To check your collection days using our bin and box collection day checker by putting in your postcode. If you have fortnightly recycling collections, you can now also download your 2023 collection calendars.

Garden waste collections stop over Christmas and new year. The final collection day is Friday 16 December, with the service resuming from Monday 2 January. 

Recycling at Christmas!

Christmas trees

Christmas tree recycling sites across the city will be open from Tuesday 27 December until Monday 9 January.

Please remove all decorations and the pot before leaving your tree.

To find your nearest site, visit our Christmas tree recycling webpage.

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

Food and drink

Plastic bottles can go straight in your recycling box or bin, washed and squashed, with their lids on.

Rinsed drink cans and food tins can also go in your recycling, along with egg boxes and cardboard sleeves for food packaging.

Please keep all glass bottles and jars in a separate recycling box so glass doesn’t contaminate the other materials.

You can recycle Tetrapaks at the food and drink carton recycling points around the city. Wash and squash them before recycling. Please don’t put tetrapaks in your household recycling.

Wrapping paper and cardboard

Please only recycle wrapping paper and plain Christmas cards - foil or paper covered in glitter can’t be recycled.

Flatten all your cardboard boxes and paper bags to make space in your recycling bins and boxes.

Please keep all paper and cardboard dry for recycling!

Electrical items and batteries

Recycle used batteries at your local supermarket or our household recycling centres.

Recycle used electrical items, including old mobile phones, laptops and tablets, at a number of recycling points in the city or the two household recycling centres.

Batteries and electrical items are a fire hazard, so do not put them in your household recycling or rubbish.

Household Recycling Centres

Opening times for the city's household recycling centres will change over Christmas.

Brighton recycling centre will close at 1pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day.

Hove recycling centre will close at 1pm on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and will be closed on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Tuesday 27 December, New Year's Day and Monday 2 January.

Recycling A-Z

For all you need to know about recycling in Brighton & Hove, visit our A-Z of recycling.