City council issues warning on battery disposal over Christmas period.
Don’t forget to put out both your blue and red recycling bins for collection in the week after Christmas. That’s the reminder from Milton Keynes City Council as their refuse collectors prepare for another mammoth festive clear up.
And the council has asked MK residents to be especially careful when disposing of batteries this year.
Recycling rates usually rise after Christmas when people have additional packaging, wrapping and bottles to dispose of, says the council, adding that during the festive period, the amount of waste collected goes up by 30% compared with the rest of the year.
To help speed up the collections, the city council will collect both types of recycling bins during the week beginning 30th December. Green and garden waste bin collections will be paused for the week to give crews enough time to pick up the additional recycling.
And the council has released an estimate of the amount of waste likely to be gathered up by waste crews in the coming days. It includes:
- Three quarters of a tonne of foil mince pie wrappers
- 990 miles of wrapping paper
- 35,000 real Christmas trees
- 1.3 million batteries
All these items can be recycled in Milton Keynes, but the council has raised a particular note of caution around how to recycle batteries, warning that they do not belong in the black bin.
The caution comes after the council had to deal with four fires at its waste facility recently that were suspected to be caused by batteries from black bins.
Batteries should be recycled, they say, and the UK has a target to recycle 45% of used batteries. Most supermarkets have collection bins in-store, and you can also recycle batteries at your nearest household waste recycling centre or put them in a plastic sandwich or similar sealable bag and place it on top of your green bin.
“Since we introduced the red and blue bins last year, MK’s recycling rates have increased by more than a third and we send virtually nothing to landfill,” said Cllr Akash Nayee, Cabinet Member responsible for the Public Realm.
“Christmas can be very busy, and we’re grateful for the efforts that local people will be making to keep recycling rates high throughout the period.”
