T'is the season to be jolly aware of recycling

Card plays an important role in preventing damage to our products but did you know that a staggering 300,000 tonnes is used in UK households during the festive season – enough to wrap Big Ben almost 260,000 times! Or, if we laid all the card packaging side by side, it would cover the return distance between London and Lapland over 100 times.

image of Big Ben Tower covered in wrapping paper

Tearing off the wrapping paper and opening the boxes is all part of the excitement on Christmas morning. The good news is, it’s easy to extend its usefulness by simply recycling it - enabling it to be turned back into packaging and used again.

To help you visualise what 300,000 tonnes looks like, we've 'wrapped' a few iconic landmarks!

Did you know? At Christmas we consume enough card packaging to cover Giants Causweay over 1,800 times. 

 Did you know? The amount of card used over Christmas would wrap the Angel of the North 2 MILLION TIMES!


image of Angel of the North wrapped in Christmas paper

Did you know? The card used over Christmas would cover the London Eye almost 50,000 times.
 

image of London Eye wrapped in card and paper

 

Top festive recycling tips:

  1. Save space at home by dropping items at your local recycling centre – use the Recycling Locator to find your nearest. 
  2. Flatten cardboard boxes before recycling to save room in the recycling container.
  3. Remove ribbons, bows and other adornments before recycling wrapping paper.
  4. Remove all food from card and paper packaging before recycling.
  5. Do the scrunch test!

Want some more festive recycling tips?

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more advice and to share your own Christmas recycling tips!

You can also watch more of our Christmas videos on the Recycle Now YouTube channel.

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