Take it as red: Have a green Christmas

ENOUGH alcohol to fill Lough Derg more than 50 times will be consumed by revellers this Christmas, as households are being asked to wrap their celebrations in green this year.

Repak aims to collect and recycle 48% of the Christmas packaging waste generated over the holiday period. It is estimated a massive 75,000 tonnes of packaging will be generated.

Put into context, it includes: enough glass to produce 12 billion glass Christmas baubles, enough steel to make 400 Spire replicas and enough plastic bottles used to produce 483,114 fleece Santa suits.

It is estimated we will munch our way through more than eight million mince pies, 1.4 million tins of biscuits, four million boxes of chocolates, all washed down with 19 million bottles of wine, four million bottles of spirits, a whopping 45 million cans of beer and 22 million cans of soft drinks.

As people enter the festive party period, Repak predicts more than 12,000 tonnes of extra food waste will be generated, which is the equivalent of 923,000 large black bins of food waste.

CEO of Repak Dr Andrew Hetherington encouraged people to have as green a Christmas as possible.

“Christmas is a great moment to celebrate and balancing it with environmental concerns is something householders across the country can achieve with some simple behavioural changes,” he said.

As well as making an extra effort to recycle more of your Christmas packaging, Repak asked people to keep the following tips in mind:

* Fold your used wrapping paper before recycling to save space in your recycle bin.

* Wash and rinse all recyclables.

* Make use of left-overs or share the excess with neighbours or friends.

* Recycle food waste by separating in a compost bin or household food waste bin.

* Recycle any old or broken electrical items in your local recycling centres or by returning them to an electrical shop when purchasing new ones.

* Don’t forget to donate old or unwanted clothes to your local charity shop.

* Find a home for old toys by donating them to a children’s charity or local school.

* Recycle your old mobile phones by giving them to one of the many local charities like the Jack and Jill Foundation.

* If you have a real Christmas tree, you can recycle it at one of the many designated recycling centres around the country.

Full details of Green Christmas recycling centres, their opening hours, local contractor collection information and Christmas tree recycling drop off points is available at www.recyclemore.ie