An article prepared by Deolinda Eltringham and Kruna Vukmirovic
Once Christmas and New Year celebrations are behind us and clearing out and tidying-up comes to all homes, we have some suggestions to help you recycle unwanted items.
Recycling real Christmas trees
Sign up to the Letchworth Garden City Hospice Christmas Treecycling service today! Book your collection before Wednesday 5th January to have it collected between the 6th and 10th January. For more information visit https://www.ghhospicecare.org.uk/events/christmas-treecycling-2022 or phone: 01462 679540 or email events@ghhospicecare.org.uk.
Please ensure your tree is stripped of all decorations.
Recycling unwanted toys
Take all unwanted, out-grown toys that are complete and in good condition to charity shops so they can continue to be useful in the community or take them to a toy exchange fair/party. Consider organising one of them!
Hasbro toys
Recycle your damaged or incomplete Hasbro toys and games by taking them to the Terracycle collection point at Our Lady Immaculate and St. Andrew Church in Hitchin and placing them in the “GREY” recycling bin provided, to help raise funds for PHASE.
Do not include Hasbro electrical and electronic toys and games as those should be disposed of via the council WEEE waste stream.
Please note that this programme accepts only Hasbro games and toys, such as Hasbro Gaming, NERF, Play-Doh, Littlest PetShop, Monopoly, My Little Pony, Mr Potato Head, Transformers, etc. For the full list, please visit the Hasbro website.
The recycling scheme does not accept any other brand toys or any toys that use batteries, and if these are placed in recycling bins, the parish will be penalised. For further information, please visit https://parish.rcdow.org.uk/hitchin/recycling-in-the-parish/ .
L.O.L Surprise! products
Any L.O.L. Surprise! products, including packaging and accessories can be recycled with Terracycle. Please take them to Corner of Campers Avenue and Westbury Place, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3SR on Saturdays only, and place them in the outside bins provided on the corner.
Mattel® PlayBack Programme
The Mattel® PlayBack Programme, facilitated by Terracycle, allows you to recycle your Barbie®, Matchbox™ and MEGA™ toys for free. Go to Mattel Playback website https://www2.mattel.com/en-gb/playback and see also https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/mattel-uk for instructions on how to do it from your home.
Miscellaneous recycling
Recycle all foil balloons and banners at participating Card Factory stores. There are recycling boxes in both Hitchin and Letchworth branches. They will take all brands of foil balloons and foil air walkers, all their plastic packaging, and all brands of foil banners and sashes. They do not take ribbons, nor weights, and no other party accessories.
The Gillette Recycling Envelope Scheme allows you to recycle any brand of razors and razor blades directly from your home! See instructions how:https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/gillette-envelope-uk