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How to reduce single-use plastic in your business

As the month draws to a close, Fresh Start is here to help your business maintain those good habits, as well as to feel more confident about knowing which types of plastic can be recycled.

Are you guilty of ‘wish-cycling?’

Experts have voiced their concerns as cash-strapped local councils increasingly reduce their spend on recycling services. Last year, the Local Government information Unit (LGiU) reported that six in 10 councils cited adult social care and children and education services as the greatest immediate pressures, compared with one in 10 who said environmental and waste issues.

Can you recycle crisp packets?

Crisp packets have become a thorny recycling issue of late. Around 6 billion packets of crisps are consumed each year in the UK, equating to more than 16 million of them being thrown away every day. Of course this leaves the question of what to do with them once their contents have been polished off.

Can you recycle Christmas trees – real & artificial?

It’s a question which has had families collectively scratching their heads for generations – how am I going to get rid of the Christmas tree? If you’ve got a real tree, whether a living or a cut one, there are lots of environmentally friendly ways that you can recycle or reuse it once the festive period is over. Before that, though, let’s get a bit of background.

Can you recycle Easter Egg packaging

A report by Which? revealed that plastic and cardboard packaging is around a quarter of the total weight of Easter eggs. The outer packaging of one of the Top 10-selling brands tipping the scales at 152g of a 418g product (or 36.4%).

Can you recycle pizza boxes?

Pizza boxes. They’re cardboard, so they’re recyclable, right? Well, that’s only partially true, and despite what some reports would have you believe, you can recycle plenty of pizza boxes. Takeaway pizza boxes are indeed cardboard, an almost universally recycled material.

How to save money on landfill tax by streaming your skip waste

HMRC recently promised to crack down on the evasion of Landfill Tax, thanks to a £150m black hole in unpaid revenue mentioned in the most recent available figures from 2014-15. Many businesses assume that all kinds of waste can be thrown into their skips. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case and can lead to huge Landfill Tax tariffs.

Can you recycle Christmas cards & wrapping paper?

The answer to this should be simple: yes. However, the waters have been muddied by reports that glittery cards, ‘metallic’ paper, and sticky tape make the recycling process grind to a halt, meaning that tonnes of otherwise recyclable paper ends up in landfill due to contamination.

can you recycling Christmas cards and wrapping paper

Unusual items found in our recycling bins

We have been collecting waste from businesses in the North West for over a decade now, but every now and then, in among the every day objects which are sent away to be recycled, we come across some items which leave us in a state of bemusement.