Make Your Festive Season a Waste-Free Celebration

1) The most carbon-intensive form of household waste is textiles - if you’re re-vamping your wardrobe for this year’s Christmas party, why not donate your unwanted clothes, shoes, bags and accessories to a local Charity Shop, details of where to donate can be found online. Bras can also be donated for reuse or recycling via the pink collection containers at the Council's nine Recycling Centres, at Bells Sports Centre or the Miss Forsyth lingerie shop in Perth – donations will help to raise money for Breast Cancer Now Research.

Food waste is the second-most carbon-intensive household waste item and is really easy to reduce.

2) Food waste is the second-most carbon-intensive household waste item and is really easy to reduce. Home composting your food waste over the winter months (e.g. vegetable peelings, fruit cores, egg shells, tea bags and coffee grounds) along with torn-up cardboard, shredded paper and scrunched up newspaper will enable you to create great compost for your garden next year. More details about home composting are available on the Council website. Alternatively, cooked and uncooked food can be recycled in the brown kerbside bin either by wrapping it in a kitchen caddy liner, wrapped in newspaper or put into the bin loose. Extra caddy liners can be purchased online here.

3) Plastic waste comes in third place - bottles and containers (e.g. tubs, food trays, punnets, yoghurt pots, cleaning bottles, drinks bottles, shampoo bottles, sauce bottles and bottle tops) can all be recycled in the kerbside blue bin. Empty, clean and dry plastic film and carrier bags can be also returned to selected supermarkets for recycling.

If you're planning a party, themed reusable party items are very on-trend

4) If you're planning a party, themed reusable party items are very on-trend at the moment as well as being within budget - more information can be found online. Also worth considering is having a collection container where your guests can put empty glass bottle and jars after the celebrations for recycling, as well as donating your empty crisp packets to help raise money for Scotland's Charity Air Ambulance. Got an unwanted gift? Rehome it at a local charity shop or reuse project.

5) If you need a bigger table for Christmas lunch, decide to upgrade your sofa in the New Year sales or receive a shiny new electronic gadget for Christmas, have a look at the Perth & Kinross Network of Charity Shops and Reuse Projects for savvy buys and local places to donate unwanted items. If your electrical and electronic equipment isn’t fit for reuse, check the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment section for ideas on how to safely recycle them.

The Council's Head of Environmental & Consumer Services, Mark Butterworth, said:

There are also plenty of ways to reduce other types of common household waste

"When planning Christmas, we'd like residents to think about using the Love Food Hate Waste Scotland website to plan their food shop, measure the right portion sizes (especially for bigger meals and parties), and check they're up to speed with understanding use by dates and the best ways to store food they buy."

"The site also has a range of tasty recipes to help use up leftovers. There are also plenty of ways to reduce other types of common household waste and make sure as much as possible can be recycled and reused rather than going to landfill."

To find out more about reducing, reusing and recycling over the festive period, visit the Perth & Kinross council website, follow Perth & Kinross Council on Facebook at or follow the Council’s Twitter.