As we get closer to celebrating Easter with family and friends; and ofcourse a little indulgence in our favourite chocolates, this time of year usually comes at a cost of our pocket and to the environment. Your house is soon to be filled with Easter egg wrappers, boxes and everything in between. BUT, did you know that a lot that waste can go straight into your recycling bin?

Here are some great ideas to share with family and friends to reduce waste and handy tips for recycling your Easter packaging.

• Easter egg foil wrappers

We suggest that you gather all the Easter egg foil wrappers and scrunch them into a fist-sized ball before placing it into the recycling bin. This makes sure that all the small bits of foil does not get lost in the recycling process. Don’t fret if there’s some chocolate on it, it’s all good and if necessary, you can just scrape off any excess.

• Cardboard boxes

They are quite cumbersome and take up a lot of space, but the cardboard boxes that package the eggs, along with any other boxes, can be placed in your blue recycling bin. Flattening the boxes first helps leave room in your bin for more recycling.

• Plastic egg holders

We do enjoy a white candy coated egg as much as the next person does, but sadly those plastic egg holders are not recyclable. It cannot be re-used and they need to be trashed in your general rubbish bin. Other examples of plastic that cannot be recycled are plastic are those UNMARKED PLASTICS.

If you have plastics not marked with a logo, but you think they may be recyclable, take a pic and keep them separate and pop us a question in the comments section below.

• Cellophane bags and packaging

Easter and hot cross buns are synonymous with each other, but what about the packaging around our favourite crossed buns? The golden rule for recycling is that if it bounces back to shape after crumpling, then it belongs in the general rubbish bin. That means packaging such as the hot cross bun packets and our favourite chocolate covered marshmallow eggs are not recyclable.

Handy Tips to manage and reduce your Easter waste:

• Recycle what you can and ensure they are in the correct bins
• Make your own Hot cross buns to eliminate those pesky shop bought cellophane packets, try this delicious recipe we found on Woolworths Taste website
• Many of us enjoy our marshmallow eggs, and since the packaging is not recyclable, why not try to make your own too.  This is Zola Nene’s Homemade marshmallow eggs – complete with mango flavoured yolk. They are delightfully easy to make. 
• If your preference is zero waste, then politely suggest to your family and friends that you would prefer to celebrate without chocolate eggs, cards and gifts and to spend quality time together enjoying a meal or doing something outdoors.

Enjoy the time with your family and friends this Easter weekend and don’t put all your recyclables into one bin –or your eggs into one basket.

From Everyone at Recycle 1^st, we wish you a blessed Easter! Till next time