The UK is estimated to use 290,000 tonnes of card packaging at Christmas, enough to wrap Big Ben almost 260,000 times, according to the Waste and Resources Action Programme’s (WRAP) Recycle Now campaign.

That amount of card packaging could also wrap the Clifton Suspension Bridge 650,000 times, the Angel of the North a huge two million times and, when laid out, would create a cardboard motorway covering the return distance between London and Lapland 103 times.

Recycle Now is urging people to recycle this card rather than putting it in the bin as part of its Christmas Campaign.

If all the card packaging used at Christmas was recycled, it says, enough energy would be saved to light 340 Blackpool illuminations.

To help, the campaign has also released six festive recycling tips to ensure that your Christmas is as green as possible. The campaign’s website also has tips on how to reuse wrapping paper or upcycle it into Christmas decorations

It has also created a series of photos of landmarks throughout the UK wrapped in packaging, complete with relevant facts, to allow the issue to be highlighted by local authorities and campaigns regionally.

As Christmas is the busiest sales period of the year, a lot more card packaging will be used to prevent product damage. All paper, including wrapping paper, is recyclable and 98 per cent of local authorities in the UK accept card.

The only types of wrapping paper that can’t go in the recycling bin are the shiny metallic and glitter varieties, made from metallised plastic film. Recycle Now says that a way to determine whether wrapping paper is recyclable is to do the ‘scrunch test’: ‘simply scrunch the paper in your hand and if it stays in a ball it can be recycled, if it springs back it is probably metallised plastic film and not recyclable’.

Six festive recycling tips

To help families keep on top of their waste this Christmas, Recycle Now has released six festive recycling tips:

1. Save space at home by dropping items at your local recycling centre;
2. Flatten cardboard boxes before recycling to save room in the recycling container;
3. Remove ribbons, bows and other adornments before recycling wrapping paper;
4. Make sure all food is out of card and paper packaging before recycling;
5. Remove card or paper packaging with glitter from your recycling containers; and
6. Remember the scrunch test.

Alice Harlock of Recycle Now said: “Card and wrapping paper are Christmas icons just like the UK landmarks images we have ‘wrapped’ to highlight the scale of recycling people can do in the UK this Christmas. Recycling them can be your gift to the environment.

“All councils in the UK accept paper and 98 per cent accept card. If in doubt as to whether your wrapping paper can be recycled, we encourage people to do the ‘scrunch test’, just to be sure.”

Tips for avoiding Christmas food waste

Zero Waste Scotland has also been campaigning to promote a resource-aware Christmas. The Scottish Government-backed group has published six tips for reducing Christmas food waste, in partnership with Great British Menu chef Tony Singh.

Through simple actions like planning ahead and not getting sucked in by special offers, the campaign hopes to reduce the 50,000 tonnes of food and drink waste that will be created in Scotland throughout December.

Celebrity chef Singh has also provided some recipes for the campaign to make the most of leftovers from Christmas lunch.

More tips on how to recycle this Christmas can be found at Recycle Now’s website. Zero Waste Sctoland’s hints for avoiding food waste this Christmas can be found on our previous story.