Around a third of all households normally put out their waste and recycling on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and their collection night will change because of the festive Bank Holidays. No other collection nights are affected.

• During Christmas Week, all collection rounds that would normally be done on Tuesday night (Christmas Eve) will be a couple of days earlier. These households are being asked to put their waste and recycling out on Sunday night (22 December).

• For most parishes, collection rounds that would normally be Wednesday night (Christmas Day) will be a couple of days later than usual. These households are being asked to put their waste and recycling out on Friday night (27 December). The exception is St Pierre du Bois, where the normal Wednesday night round will also move forward to Sunday night (22 December).

• The following week, all Tuesday night collection rounds will move to Friday night (3 January), instead of New Year’s Eve, with the exception of St Pierre du Bois, whose normal Tuesday night round will be a day later, on Wednesday night (1 January).

Recycling Officer Tina Norman-Ross said Guernsey Waste was always very busy over the Christmas and New Year period.

“This is the peak time of the year for waste and recycling, so we are encouraging everyone to be conscious of what they are producing, and reduce, reuse and recycle as much as they can. To help, we provide lots of information through Facebook and Twitter throughout the Christmas and New Year period.”

The amount of waste produced by households has fallen to a record low this year, along with a massive increase in recycling. This follows the introduction of new waste collections in 2018, and the start of ‘pay as you throw’ charges in February 2019.

Pictured: Mrs Norman-Ross said if people could keep the bring bank sites tidy, the teams who usually clean them could have Christmas and Boxing Day off. 

Mrs Norman-Ross said: “We are really proud of islanders’ efforts. Since the introduction of the new collections we now pick up around 150 tonnes of materials for recycling every week – food waste, paper, cardboard, plastic, tins, cartons and glass. That is more than the weight of an adult blue whale – the largest animal on the planet.”

In addition to the Household Waste & Recycling Centre, drop off facilities for ‘dry’ recycling will be available at the normal bring bank sites. Extra collections will be made right up until Christmas Eve, but they will not be emptied on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Mrs Norman-Ross said it was important not to leave items if the bins were full.

“It is actually an offence to leave items on the ground, and it makes an awful mess. It’s just not worth it, since most items can now go into your kerbside recycling bags, and there is no limit on how many you can put out.

“If a bring bank is full, please take your items to another site. It is only fair for the teams that clear the sites and keep them tidy all year round to have Christmas Day and Boxing Day off."

Pictured top: Arrangements for waste collections will be different over Christmas.