Council issues advice on Christmas Bin Collections and Recycling

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council is highlighting the changes to bin collections over the Christmas period whilst also encouraging residents to continue to recycle.

If your bin is scheduled to be collected on Monday 25 December 2023, it will be collected on Saturday 23 December 2023.  If your bin is scheduled to be collected on Tuesday 26 December 2023, it will be collected on Saturday 30 December 2023.  Residents are asked to present their bin for collection by 7am on the relevant Saturday.  All other bin collections will operate as normal.

The Council would like to thank residents for their ongoing recycling efforts throughout the year and would encourage everyone to continue to recycle right over the Christmas and New Year period.  Remember the Council’s Clean Dry Empty Flat message for the blue recycling bin to help prevent contamination and increase the recyclable value of the items.

Recycling tips to remember are:

• Ensure boxes are flat to make space in your bin and avoid items from going inside them as these can be difficult to separate;
• Empty and wash jars and containers which may have residue on them to prevent them from contaminating other items in the bin;
• Don’t stack items inside each other as they can be difficult to separate at the recycling facility;
• Ensure paper and cardboard is dry to prevent it from turning to ‘porridge’ and sticking to other items; and
• Wrapping paper can be recycled if it has no foil, glitter or sticky tape and it passes the scrunch test (of the paper holds its shape after being scrunched it can be recycled).

Household Recycling Centres across the District will be open over the Christmas period, except for Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 December 2023, Monday 01 January 2024 and individual rest days.  Small electrical items, batteries and ‘real’ Christmas trees can be taken to your local Recycling Centre to be recycled.

There are many different ways you can reuse and reinvent your Christmas leftovers and make your food go further. The Council would encourage residents to consider using leftover food to avoid food waste and there are some recipe ideas available on the Love Food Hate Waste website (www.lovefoodhatewaste.com).  However, when using leftovers its important you follow good food safety advice: –

• Cool cooked food quickly at room temperature and refrigerate or freeze within one to two hours;
• Splitting leftovers into smaller portions will help cool food quicker;
• Defrost food slowly and safely in the fridge or thoroughly in a microwave on the defrost setting. Don’t defrost at room temperature;
• Make sure food has been fully defrosted, as partially defrosted food may not cook evenly. This means that harmful bacteria could survive the cooking process;
• Once the food is defrosted eat within 24 hours and do not refreeze; and
• Make sure you reheat any defrosted food until steaming hot.

Further Christmas food safety tips are available on the Food Standards Agency website Christmas food hygiene | Food Standards Agency.

Where food waste does arise, residents are encouraged to dispose of food waste in their brown food waste caddy or brown wheelie bin.

By everyone playing their part to recycle right, we can help to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill which helps to protect the environment.

Details on bin collections and what goes in my bin are available on the Council website (www.fermanaghomagh.com) or download the Binovation App for free from Google Play or the AppStore.