NEWS ITEM

Give a little egg-stra over Easter

Waste bosses in Wiltshire are asking everyone to put egg-stra efforts into recycling their Easter goodies - and they’ve come up with some gift ideas for those who want a greener Easter.

People in Wiltshire will tuck into almost 200 tonnes of Easter chocolates – and that adds up to a big seasonal increase in packaging, from cellophane and foil to cardboard, ribbons and plastic.

“Chocolate may not slim our waistlines but we can help slim our bins by recycling as much Easter egg packaging as possible,” said Wiltshire County Council waste manager Andy Conn.

“We can start from basics too - buying Easter Eggs with minimal recyclable packaging and using a reusable bag to take home our purchases.”

If you plan to recycle the packaging off your Easter goodies, detach the cardboard box from the foil and plastic packaging. Cardboard can be recycled at the ten household recycling centres across Wiltshire, while foil can be put in your multi-material kerbside recycling box if you have one.

If you have a home composter you can tear the cardboard into pieces and pop it in there.

Easter cards can also be recycled, just take them to your nearest neighbourhood recycling centre. Some 10 million Easter cards were sent last year so recycling them will have a big impact.

And remember the recycling centres are open and staffed all over Easter – and from April 1 they extended their opening hours to provide an even better service. Just ring our helpline number 0845 603 2085 for more details or try our website on www.wasteinwiltshire.com

Household Recycling Centres in Wiltshire are at Trowbridge, Purton, Stanton St Quentin, Melksham, Compton Bassett, Amesbury, Devizes, Warminster, Salisbury and Everleigh.

Wiltshire County Council is a member of the Wiltshire Waste Partnership, a collaboration between the county council and the four district councils - Kennet, North Wiltshire, Salisbury and West Wiltshire - working together to tackle waste issues across Wiltshire.

ENDS

Notes for editors:

For more information please call Wiltshire County Council Communications Department on 01225 713114/5/6.

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Egg-stra ideas

How to make traditional hand-painted Easter eggs:
make a hole at the top and bottom of a large, free range egg
carefully blow out the contents.
- allow the eggshell to dry
- gently decorate it with brightly coloured paints or felt-tips
- add some glitter or recycled ribbons – whatever you can ‘lay’ your hands on.
- Alternatively, you can hard boil the eggs. To save time painting them, add some food colouring to the water. Add the extra decorations when they have cooled down.

Here’s a fun way to re-use the plastic shell you get with your Easter egg as a mould and create endless eggs to give away.

- cover the plastic packaging shell from a shop-bought Easter egg in petroleum jelly
- rip up bits of old newspapers and soak them in a paste and water solution
- apply a layer of paper over the egg mould and leave until almost dry
- add another six layers in the same way – you may prefer to use white or coloured  paper for the final layer
- leave the mould to dry out completely for a day or two
- carefully pull the mould away from the papier mache egg and decorate it
- place a little bundle of organic chocolates wrapped in scrap material inside the egg
- present it with a pretty ribbon that can be reused.

Household Recycling Centre - opening times

Household Recycling Centres - The Amesbury, Honeyball, Melksham, Purton, Stanton St Quintin, Trowbridge, Everleigh and Devizes Household Recycling Centres are open the following hours from April 1 – October 31.

Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 9am to 5pm
Wednesday and Thursday: 9am to 7pm.

The Warminster and Salisbury Household Recycling Centres are open the following hours from April 1 – October 31.
Monday to Sunday: 9am to 8pm.

Egg facts

Every Easter more than £299m is spent on chocolate in the UK - equivalent to 139 million egg shells weighing 200 grammes. And if all 139 million shell eggs were encased in carton packaging they would use a staggering 9,391.8 sq miles of board.

 

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For more information please contact the press office on 01225 713114.