Residents are being reminded that there will be some minor changes to rubbish and recycling collections over the Christmas period.

Cornwall Council has also reminded households that it will not be operating a free collection service to dispose of real Christmas trees this year. Whilst the council had previously operated the service it said that, in line with other local councils, only people who have paid for the council's garden waste service will have their trees collected.

Households which would have usually had their waste collected on Monday (Dec26) will have to wait a week until the following Monday, January 2. And if your recycling or garden waste was due to be collected on Boxing Day it will instead be picked up on New Year's Eve, Saturday, December 31.

Cornwall Council has said that all other collections, including those on the bank holidays on Tuesday, December 27, and Monday, January 2, will continue as normal.

The council has also issued a reminder that it will not be collecting real Christmas trees this year other than from households that subscribe to the council's garden waste collections service. They have urged people not to leave their redundant trees on the side of the road unless they have access to this service.

Instead, households are encouraged to either compost their trees or take them to their local Household Waste Recycling Centre. They are open from 9 am to 4 pm every day other than Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, to find details of your local HWRC and opening hours go to Household waste and recycling centres - Cornwall Council

Cornwall Council has also encouraged people to recycle as much of their Christmas waste as possible. Items that can be recycled include plastic sweet tubs, plastic advent calendar trays, tins, glass bottles, and cardboard boxes.

Christmas cards, envelopes and wrapping paper without foil or glitter can also be recycled. The council asks that people remove any ribbons, bows, foil, glitter and bubble wrap before placing items into recycling containers.

Households are also reminded not to put batteries into their rubbish or recycling as they can start fires when crushed in rubbish lorries or at waste transfer stations. Batteries can be taken to HWRCs or many local supermarkets for recycling.