TOUGHEST TIME OF YEAR FOR NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE'S WASTE COLLECTION CREWS

Binmen walk an average of ten miles a day

Whether you’re enjoying your Christmas dinner leftovers or snuggled up on your sofa binge watching your favourite programme, remember to spare a thought for your bin crew and street cleansing teams this festive season.

That is the plea issued today by North East Lincolnshire Council.

Binmen will be hitting the street at 7am the day after Boxing Day to collect leftover turkey carcasses, reams of wrapping paper and mountains of polystyrene packaging, clearing away 500 tonnes more rubbish than normal.

A bin crew worker will typically walk 10 miles a day in all weathers collecting and hauling about 10 tonnes of waste and recycling.

During the Christmas holiday, the team takes an extra 122 tonnes of dry recycling and 400 tonnes of household waste than they would in a usual month - about the same weight as 130 cars.

North East Lincolnshire Council is hiring extra staff to help cover the rounds to help with the demands of the festive season.

It will also be doubling up on its recycling vehicles, going from nine to 18, and it will have 12 domestic waste vehicles, instead of the usual eight.

You can help the bin crews through the Christmas holiday by following these simple tips:

* Plan ahead and think about how you are going to dispose of your waste this Christmas

* Check your Christmas and New Year collection calendar

* Leave your bins and boxes out by 7am at the boundary of your property

* Most people manage their household waste well, but if you have too much rubbish for your bin, check you’re recycling as much as you can

*Take any excess waste to the Community Recycling Centre in Grimsby or Immingham

*Recycle as much as you can. Don’t forget to squash down plastic bottles and drinks cans and cut down cardboard to fit into your recycling boxes. Crews will take all recycling that has been correctly presented in the recycling boxes. They will not take large cardboard boxes that have not been folded up to fit in the blue recycling box.

*Break down cardboard boxes and remove all polystyrene, bubble wrap and other packaging before disposing of them

* All household rubbish that can’t be recycled goes in the green wheelie bin with the lid down. All rubbish needs to be in the bin and the lid closed.

* Recycle your real Christmas tree at a Community Recycling Centre (the tip) in Grimsby or Immingham or chop it up and put it in your garden waste bin if you have one. If your tree has a root-ball and has been watered regularly, you can re-plant it for next year.

*Wrapping paper can only be recycled if it passes the scrunch test – simple paper wrap can be recycled but foil or glitter-decorated paper cannot and needs to go in the green bin. Only wrapping paper that stays scrunched up can be recycled. If it doesn’t, don’t recycle it.

*If you live in a narrow street, park tight against the kerb, fold in wing mirrors, don’t park at a junction and never park on double yellow lines. Our bin wagons are big and need a gap of 3m (10ft) to pass safely, about the same as a fire engine. We can’t empty the bins when cars block the street.

*Stack your boxes with the green box on top so it stops your paper from getting wet and your plastic from blowing away.

A North East Lincolnshire Council spokesperson says: “Our bin crews work extremely hard to empty thousands of bins each day - often walking 50 miles a week dragging heavy bins and heaving recycling boxes.

“The crews empty more than 7,300 wheelie bins and more than 22,000 recycling boxes a day - in all sorts of weather.

“The work they do is vital to keeping North East Lincolnshire clean and safe.

“Please be patient during the Christmas holiday and do what you can to help them get the job done.”

All households in the borough will be sent a holiday waste and recycling leaflet with their Christmas collection dates, including lots of other useful information about waste and recycling in North East Lincolnshire.