DON’T feed your black bag this Christmas – that’s the message to residents in Carmarthenshire from the council’s recycling team over the festive period.

We buy, eat and waste a lot more food this time of year so it is more important than ever that we recycle as much of it as possible.

Figures show that UK households throw away 7.3 million tonnes of food every year. Here in Carmarthenshire, we provide householders with green food bins which are emptied every week and all food waste is turned into compost.

However, an analysis of black bags carried out by the council last year showed that as much as a quarter of our black bags still contained food waste and almost three-quarters of it was avoidable and nearly half was still in its packaging.

Executive Board Member for the Environment Cllr Hazel Evans said: “If you have food waste, and let’s face it most of us do, anything at all even just tea bags should be placed in your food bin rather than your black bag as it is important it does not go to landfill. And at this time of year when we have more food waste than usual, it is even more important that we recycle it using our food bins.

“There are lots of lovely recipes for making the most of your festive food and using up any leftovers on the Love Food Hate Waste website (lovefoodhatewaste.com).

“Remember, buy only the food you need; eat the food you buy; and recycle the food you can’t eat.”

Residents are also being reminded that there are changes to bin collections over the Christmas period, these can be found on the Newsroom (newsroom.carmarthenshire.gov.wales) along with recycling centre opening times.

Visit carmarthenshire.gov.wales/recycling for more information on food waste, to request a free replacement food bin if needed and to check your bin collection day.