People can now recycle even more of their festive leftovers and give their own yuletide gift to the environment.

All that extra waste through wrapping paper, food and unwanted gifts that Christmas brings can be turned into recycling.

Head of waste management, Andy Conn, said: “There are so many ways to recycle Christmas waste this year. For example all those chocolate tins and minced meat jars can be recycled in your black box.

“And don’t worry if your black box gets filled up. We will still recycle any extra items if you leave them in plastic bags next to your black box on collection day.”

Other ways people can recycle, include:

* Take real Christmas trees to one of Wiltshire’s household recycling centres.

* Non-shiny wrapping paper and Christmas cards can also be recycled in the cardboard bins at recycling centres or in people’s cardboard bins if they have one.

* The Woodland Trust is running a scheme from January 2 to 31 where people can take all their unwanted Christmas cards to WH Smith, TK Maxx and Marks & Spencer. Woodland Trust will recycle them and plant thousands of trees.

* Food waste can be a thing of the past – there are interesting leftovers recipes from some of the nation's top chefs at www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.  Or, for a really green Christmas present for someone with a garden there are food waste digesters.  See www.recycleforwiltshire.com for more information.

* Unwanted gifts need not go to waste. Many charity shops would benefit from them, or they could be given to someone else. Freecycle (www.freecycle.org) or Freegle (www.ilovefreegle.org) will advertise any unwanted items for free for someone else to benefit from them.

* Waste electrical and electronic equipment can be taken to local household recycling centres.

* Around 600 million household batteries are sent to landfill in the UK every year.  But Wiltshire residents can take these to household recycling centres to be recycled.

Wiltshire's household recycling centres are easy and convenient to use. They are open Monday to Sunday 9am to 4pm (Salisbury open until 6pm).  The centres are open during the festive period, apart from the afternoon of Christmas Eve, and all day Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.  To find out more, including where they are in the county, log onto www.recycleforwiltshire.com or call the council on 0300 4560102.