Waste less this Easter!
With lots of chocolatey treats and delicious food about as we get together to celebrate with family and friends, Easter can bring more than its fair share of rubbish!
Even though there has been a huge reduction in Easter egg packaging over the last few years, around 80 million Easter eggs are eaten in the UK each year, it still means that around 8,000 tonnes of packaging waste is created. If all the UK Easter eggs bought each year were laid out in a line, they could cover the length of Hadrian's Wall two and a half times!
The good news is that is that it is possible to reduce the impact on your rubbish and recycling bins this Easter by using the handy tips below.
Do it Yourself
Keep waste to a minimum by making your own Easter cards, chocolate eggs, Easter biscuits, dyeing eggs or homemade decorations using recycled materials!
Easter egg packaging
If you can, choose Easter eggs that come in less packaging, or at least in recyclable packaging. Your cardboard boxes and plastic trays can all go in your home recycling bin.
Easter egg foil
Many eggs come wrapped in coloured foil, which can be recycled in your household recycling bin. Just remember to collect up all the foil into a tennis-sized ball along with any other bits of used foil (including from smaller eggs) and pop it into your home recycling bin for collection.
Gift basket wrapping and sweet wrappers
Cellophane wrap from Easter baskets and sweet wrappers can’t go into your recycling bin. Try reusing the cellophane to wrap other presents. Recycle them at a local supermarket along with plastic bags and other types of wrapping. Find your nearest participating store here and read more about what types of plastic wrapping you can recycle there.
Easter cards
Try making your own using recycled materials and remember to recycle and cards and envelopes you receive (no glitter or foil bits please). There are some fun ideas to make with the family here.
Easter food
As we get together with friends and family at this time of year, we can end up buying more food than we need. Over 8,000 tonnes of food is expected to be wasted in Britain over the Easter weekend, including an estimated 6.8 million hot cross buns!
You can reduce your plastic waste by visiting a shop on our refill directory to fill up your dried goods and cleaning products. Before you head to the shops, plan your meals and shopping list so you don’t get tempted - when you get home make sure you store your items correctly - then simply freeze or use up your leftovers! There are lots of recipes and recipes on our Food Savvy website – yum!
Hot cross buns
Hot cross buns usually come in plastic wrapping with a cardboard inner to hold the buns. You can recycle the plastic wrapping at your nearest participating supermarket. The cardboard can go in your recycling bin but remember to remove as much of the food residue as you can (hot cross buns are notoriously sticky!). Store your hot cross buns in the freezer to stop them being wasted or try this recipe for a delicious hot cross bun bread and butter pudding to use up any surplus.
Flowers
If you've gone daft over daffodils, remember you can put all your fading blooms in your home compost bin. If you’ve made an Easter tree table centrepiece, pop branches and twigs in your garden waste collection if you have one, or chop up twigs into smaller pieces if placing in your home compost bin, so they will break down more easily. Don’t forget to remove any decorations to save for next year!
Happy Easter!
