Christmas recycling
The festive season is here, and while it’s the most wonderful time of the year, it also creates more waste than usual. Here's a few easy ways you can recycle and make a difference:
Recycle your food waste
Don’t let leftovers or spoiled food go to waste - this Christmas, you can recycle items like:
- mouldy or out-of-date food
- fruit and vegetable peelings
- bones and meat scraps
- tea bags and coffee grounds
Simply remove any packaging and place your food scraps in your grey food waste bin. Each year, 7,000 tonnes of food waste in Lewisham are recycled through anaerobic digestion, a process that turns it into fertiliser and renewable energy. For example, just one lorry of food waste can power over 20,000 TVs for an hour - perfect for binge-watching your favourite holiday shows:
Recycle your Christmas tree
Once the festivities are over, give your real Christmas tree a second life by recycling it. Recycled trees are turned into wood chippings, which are used in our local parks.
You can drop off your tree for free at one of the following locations between Friday 26 December and Friday 30 January:
- Blackheath: Changing Room Carpark (Talbot Place entrance)
- Mayow Park: Mayow Road - Café Entrance
- Sydenham Wells Park: Wells Park Road - Main Entrance
- Telegraph Hill: Kitto Road/Pepys Road Entrance
- Blythe Hill: Codrington Hill Entrance
- Manor House Gardens: Old Road Entrance
- Mountsfield Park: George Lane Entrance
- Hilly Fields: Adelaide Avenue/Montague Corner + Bowling Green Corner
- Northbrook Park: Baring Road Entrance
- Chinbrook Meadows: Amblecote Road Carpark Entrance
- Deptford Park: Scawen Road Depot Entrance
- Forster Memorial Park: Whitefoot Lane Top Entrance
- Friendly Gardens: Thornville Street
- Broadway Fields: Brookmill Road
If you have a garden waste bin, you can use it to recycle your real Christmas tree. Just cut it into pieces no bigger than 10cm thick and 50cm long.
You should remove all decorations before recycling your tree. You can’t put artificial trees in your garden waste bin.