With the excitement building as Christmas nears East Cambridgeshire District Council and Ellgia Recycling have come together to help Ely Food bank.

Normally the authority encourages residents to put Christmas cards and envelopes in their blue wheelie bins, however for this Christmas special recycling bins will be located in Ely, Littleport and Witchford.

These bins will be in place from Monday 21 December to Friday 15 January and will be emptied by locally based Ellgia Recycling who will recycle the card and paper.

The proceeds will then be donated to Ely Food Bank who will also have foodbanks at the locations of the special recycling bins for people to leave any of the following:

•             Milk (UHT or powdered) , fruit juice (carton –long life), tea bags/instant coffee
•             Sugar (500g or 1kg), jam, biscuits or snack bars
•             Pasta sauces, tomatoes (tinned) and instant mash potato
•             Sponge puddings and rice puddings (tinned)
•             Tins of vegetables, meat or fruit

Cllr Julia Huffer, Waste and Recycling Champion of East Cambridgeshire District Council said “This Christmas we thought it would be nice to help an organisation in East Cambridgeshire which is making a real difference to people’s lives. After we successfully worked with Ellgia Recycling to recycle pumpkins around Halloween, we have come together again to help Ely Food bank through the recycling of Christmas cards. We hope the initiative will encourage people to recycle their cards at the end of the festive season but perhaps more importantly support an amazing charity to help those less fortunate than ourselves at this special time of the year.

Joe Rudd of Ellgia Recycling said: "We're proud to be joining forces with East Cambridgeshire District Council with a Christmas card recycling scheme, in support of Ely Food Bank. Christmas is a time when we generate a large amount of waste and it is important to think green and remember to recycle. Bring your old Christmas cards to one of our recycling containers situated across Ely and we will recycle them, with all proceeds going to Ely Food Bank. Your support will  make a huge difference environmentally and importantly benefit those in local community most in need.”

Karl Relton, Chair of Trustees for Ely Food bank, said: "We are always pleased when businesses or organisations want to add a Food bank collection point. Demand continues with over 400 people helped per month, and we expect this to continue."

The recycling bins can be found at:

•             Ely: Council Offices at Nutholt Lane, Oliver Cromwell House, Tesco store, Waitrose store and Espace South
•             Littleport: Espace North on Wisbech Road
•             Witchford: Central hub at Unit 78 Lancaster Way Business Park


For more information on the waste and recycling service in East Cambridgeshire please call 01353 665555.