Recent research has found that to get rid of the three million tonnes of waste produced in England and Wales over Christmas could cost councils as much as £78 million.

Up to as much as two thirds of this waste will end up at landfill costing local councils £40 per tonne in tax to the government.

In order to help deal with all this extra Christmas waste people are urged to recycle as much as possible and compost fruit and vegetable waste. It’s also important that people don’t buy more food than they actually need so less is thrown in the bin.

Across England and Wales, local councils are expected to deal with 230,000 tonnes of food, 10,000 tonnes of wrapping paper, 20,000 tonnes of Christmas cards and 25,000 tonnes of plastic packaging.

Many people are already keen on recycling their rubbish and these figures remind us why its so important to do so.