Wrapping Paper

Firstly check that your local council can accept wrapping paper. You can do this by looking at their website or by giving them a ring. Then put it in the bags or boxes provided for kerbside collection, or deposit it in the appropriate recycling bank at your nearest centre.

Other councils ask for wrapping paper to be recycled in cardboard recycling banks only – again check with yours to find out about your local collection.

Some councils do not collect wrapping paper at all, this is because wrapping paper is not accepted by some recycled paper mills. There are a number of reasons for this.

The materials that go into making some wrapping paper result in it not always being accepted for recycling:

• wrapping paper is often dyed, laminated and/or contains non-paper additives such as gold and silver coloured shapes, glitter, plastics etc which cannot be recycled;
• some wrapping paper is very thin and contains few good quality fibres for recycling; and
• a lot of wrapping paper has sticky tape attached to it which makes it very difficult to recycle.

Try to buy wrapping paper made from recycled materials. Sometimes this isn’t so easy to find in the shops, but these websites are helpful:

• Recycled Paper Supplies sell recycled wrapping paper
• Recycled Products Gui de is a searchable directory of products made from recycled materials and contains over 1,000 products