Households and businesses across the Stirling area will have temporary adjustments to their waste and recycling collection schedules over the festive period.

Residents are also being encouraged to recycle and re-use at a time of the year when there is typically increased waste and recycling produced at home.

There will be no waste and recycling collections on:
Thursday 25 December - Christmas Day
Friday 26 December - Boxing Day
Thursday 1 January - New Year's Day
Friday 2 January - Bank Holiday

From week commencing  22 December - week commencing 13 January some collections may be different to accommodate these bank holidays.All residents whose bin collection falls on one of those days can check
their online postcode finder for any temporary collection dates.To accommodate the adjustments, there will be no brown bin collections between:Monday 22 December - Sunday 28 December and Monday 29 December - 4 January. Brown bin collections will resume from the week commencing Monday 6 January.

Residents are also encouraged to use their new glass recycling bins, which will provide additional capacity over the Christmas and New Year period.

The Household Waste Recycling Centres will be open and operating as normal, under winter hours, but will be closed on the following dates:
Thursday 25 December - Christmas Day
Friday 26 December - Boxing Day
Thursday 1 January - New Year's Day
Friday 2 January - Bank Holiday

All HWRC sites will be open as normal Saturday 27 December and Saturday 3 January. Lower Polmaise will be the only site open Sunday 28 December and Sunday 4 January as Balfron and Callander are closed on Sundays.To access our Household Waste Recycling Centres it's necessary to make a booking and residents can also check out opening times to arrange their visit when it best suits.The festive period is a time when households might have more waste than usual and Zero Waste Scotland provide helpful information on ways to have a less wasteful Christmas.

Below is some advice on the best way to dispose of common waste and recycling items you may have at this time of year:
Wrapping paper and gift cards
Standard paper, wrapping paper and gift cards should be placed in your green recycling bin.
Wrapping paper or gift cards containing foil, glitter, ribbons or felt coatings are not recyclable and should be placed in your grey bin.
Cardboard collection
If you have excess paper or cardboard during the festive period, you can take it to any of our Household Waste Recycling Centres at Lower Polmaise, Balfron and Callander.Christmas treesYou can recycle real Christmas trees within the garden waste skips at any of our Household Waste Recycling Centres, or you can chop them up and place in your brown bin, if you have a valid garden waste permit.Convener of the Environment, Transport and Net Zero committee, Cllr Alasdair Tollemache, said: "Christmas is a time of joy and generosity, but it can also be one of the most wasteful periods of the year. By
making a few simple choices, each of us can help promote a sustainable Christmas by protecting the environment we all share, from recycling wrapping paper to making sure bottles, cans and food packaging go in the
right bins."Once again, our Household Waste Recycling Centres will remain open throughout most of the festive period if people have excess paper or cardboard or other bulky items that don't fit in their bins."We would like to thank businesses and residents for their understanding around these temporary changes over the festive period.
On behalf of
Stirling Council's Waste Services team, we would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."For details on festive bin collections, as well as the opening times of our Lower Polmaise, Callander and Balfron HWRC sites, please visit:www.stirling.gov.uk/festivebincollections