Sutton Council will be making refuse and recycling collections over the Christmas holidays – but advise residents to be aware of revised collection times.

Refuse and recycling collections on Friday 25 or Saturday 26 December will now take place on Monday 28 and Wednesday 30 December respectively*. Collections on Monday 28, Tuesday 28, Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 are unaffected. Collections on Friday 1 January will take place on Monday 4 January*. Normal service will resume on Saturday 2 January.

Garden Waste collections expected on Friday 25 or Saturday 26 December will take place on Thursday 24 December instead.

Residents are also encouraged to think about items that can be recycled as they begin the post-Christmas clean up. The festive season can be an extremely busy time and recycling can easily drop to the bottom of priority lists.

Many household items can be recycled. From plastic food and drink packaging to cardboard boxes and wrapping paper**, most packaging can go into your recycling bin.

Plastic drinks bottles, pots, tubs, and trays can go straight into the recycling, but remember to give them a quick rinse in washing up water beforehand. The same is true of glass jars and bottles. Egg boxes, cardboard sleeves for food packaging, and biscuit selection boxes can all be recycled too.

We might spend a little extra time getting ready for Christmas and New Year nights out. Remember that toiletries such as plastic shower gel and shampoo bottles, deodorant and shaving gel aerosols, and moisturiser tubes can all be recycled.

Anyone with a ‘real’ Christmas tree will be pleased to know they are 100% recyclable. Christmas tree collections will begin on Monday 11 January for two weeks.

A full list of what can and cannot be recycled in Sutton can be found here.

Cllr Jill Whitehead, Chair of Environment & Neighbourhood Committee at Sutton Council, said:

“Here in Sutton we know our residents work hard to make sure they recycle as much as possible but there is still more that could be done.

“The hectic Christmas season can become overwhelming. It’s easy to forget about recycling. Making a that small extra effort to recycle will make a real difference to Sutton and the environmental health of our planet, along with contributing to the achievement of our One Planet Sutton targets.”

Sutton currently recycles 37% of its waste – above the London average of 34%. The council wants to build on this through a recycling campaign that launched in November 2015 including a series of recycling roadshows, posters, a booklet drop to all households with information about what people can and cannot place in their bins as well as bin stickers for households with kerbside collections.

As 23% of waste placed in brown bins could be recycled there is still opportunity to make Sutton’s recycling figures even better.

On top of the many environmental benefits of recycling, it is also far more cost-effective for the public purse to recycle materials rather than dispose of them. These savings can then be used to fund other important council services.

The Sutton recycling campaign is funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and Resource London after Sutton Council’s successful bid for funding.

Garden Waste collections

Scheduled collection date	Revised collection date
25 December (Christmas Day)	24 December
26 December (Boxing Day)	24 December

Refuse & Recycling collections

Scheduled collection date	Revised collection date
25 December (Christmas Day)	28 / 29 December*
26 December (Boxing Day)	30 December
28 December	Usual collection
29 December	Usual collection
30 December	Usual collection
31 December	Usual collection
1 January 2016	4 / 5 January 2016*

*We will endeavour to make catch-up collections as quickly as possible – residents are advised to leave their bins out on the revised date and leave them out until collections can be made.

**Wrapping paper with foil or glitter detailing cannot be recycled.