Christmas is a time of sharing, caring and gift giving, but also a time of huge amounts of waste as wrapping paper and packaging for presents abound, along with innumerable cans and bottles of drink consumed over the holidays.

Where did all this waste from our Christmas generosity and partying go? Straight into the landfill.

But picture this scene: Set back from a roadside, large dumpsters wait to be filled with aluminium cans, glass, paper and cardboard. Inside homes, garbage is sorted as it accumulates and dropped into smaller bins, the contents of which end up in these dumpsters.

Hey presto! A huge drop in the amount of rubbish entering Mount Trashmore.

It’s not too late for new year’s resolutions. Why not make an effort this year to see how much you can recycle.

People say there is no recycling in Cayman, but that’s not entirely true. Take a closer look at the parking areas of some of Grand Cayman’s supermarkets and you’ll find dumpsters for aluminium cans. The Department of Environmental Health also keeps aluminium cans until enough are collected to be shipped off island for recycling. Some offices also have aluminium can rubbish bins and there’s no reason not to start your own in your office. So, don’t bin your tins.

Glass can be recycled to be used as aggregate. A trial project of glass recycling run by the National Trust a few years ago got tremendous support from the community as people deposited their glass jars and bottles at a large skip there. It was such a popular incentive that the Trust had to issue an appeal to the public to stop dropping off glass at its centre on South Church Street after the project ended.

A recycling company has a bin by Grand Harbour where people can leave their aluminium cans and also glass bottles. The glass is smashed up and used as fill and aggregate.
Old newspapers stacking up? Before throwing them into your rubbish bin, why not just put them in your car, drive to the Humane Society and leave them in the bin outside the colourful blue and yellow building where they will be used as lining for the animal cages.

There are no plastic recycling facilities available on Island, so the simple answer would seem to be avoid using plastic as much as possible. Last year, supermarkets started charging customers for plastic shopping bags and while that initially caused a massive dip in the number of plastic bags being used and an increase in the number of reusable shopping bags, the numbers have been creeping back up. It seems people are definitely willing to pay a few cents for the convenience of plastic bags.

Then, in December, the ban the plastic bag campaign went a step further, with supermarkets agreeing to stop supplying the bags to customers one Saturday a month. People just accepted that and brought their own bags, bought the reusable ones or simply carried their groceries in their arms to their cars.

Phone directories are recycled in Cayman also, so there’s no need to throw those bulky books in the rubbish bin when a new one comes out each year. Rechargeable batteries, as well as larger batteries such as car batteries, can also be recycled and are shipped off island.

So, this year, do a little bit of homework, find out where you can drop off your cans, bottles and paper, and join the recycling revolution.