IRVINE and Kilwinning residents are being urged to put the right stuff in the right bin - in a bid to reduce festive waste sent to landfill.

More rubbish is generated at Christmas than at any other time of the year - including sending around one billion Christmas cards, using 750 million glass bottles and buying more than seven million real Christmas trees every year.

But all this rubbish doesn’t have to go in the bin in the new year.

Councillor Jim Montgomerie, cabinet member for Place, explained: “This year, we are asking residents to think seriously about how they dispose of their festive waste.

“A lot of the extra rubbish we generate at this time of the year, such as Christmas cards, and extra cans and bottles, can all be recycled in our blue bins.

“You can even recycle your Christmas tree at our Household Waste Recycling Centres, where they’ll be chipped and used for compost.

“So we are asking all households to continue to support us in our mission to reduce waste and ask that everyone takes a few extra minutes to make sure they put the right stuff in the right bin.”

There will be no changes to the household or commercial waste collections this year over the Christmas and new year period – apart from households on Arran. 

But, even though collection days will remain the same, the collection times may vary for Irvine and Kilwinning residents over the festive season. 

Residents are therefore urged to ensure their bin is out for 7am on the morning of their collection. 

If affected by adverse weather, the waste collection crews will return

and uplift their bins as soon as possible. 

North Ayrshire’s Household Waste Recycling Centres will be closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and again on January 1-2.

But they council have confirmed they will be open as normal every other day during the festive period.