St Albans City and District Council is appealing to residents to help reduce the amount of waste created during the festive season by recycling Christmas trees, cards and wrapping paper.

An estimated 3 million tonnes of waste is produced in the UK over the Christmas period, with each one of us throwing away an average of 50kg of rubbish.

By following the recycling tips below, you can help reduce this waste:

– Take natural Christmas trees to your local Household Waste and Recycling Centre for recycling. Alternatively, if the tree is small enough, it can be placed in your green wheelie-bin, the contents of which will be recycled and used for composting. Some garden centres offer a chipping service and some, for a small price, will even collect the tree such as Aylett Nurseries (Tel. 01727 822255).

– Plain Christmas cards can be placed in your green bin for composting or recycled at any cardboard recycling bank or Household Waste and Recycling Centre. Alternatively, you can recycle your cards by putting them in the Woodland Trust’s special collection boxes at TK Maxx and Marks & Spencer. Money raised from this activity will be used to plant trees in the new community forest in Sandridge.

– Wrapping paper which is non-metallic and non–sparkly can be recycled in your green wheelie bin, however, tape must be removed first.

– If you received a new mobile phone for Christmas, you can donate your old one to charity or sell it to a phone recycling company.Unwanted gifts can be used by someone else. Consider, giving them to charity or swap your gift at www.recycleagift.com.