In Roads - Christmas 2007

Christmas is a great opportunity to do something really worthwhile – visit relatives you haven’t seen since last Christmas, make friends with those you fell out with over last Christmas and make the most of those new friendships at the office Christmas parties!

We can’t help you with any of the above but what the Borough Council can do is offer you some great tips on recycling at Christmas and also some really useful advice on food safety.

With all the present giving at Christmas there are bound to be additional things to get rid of. Have a clear out and see how much can still be used. Old mobile phones and printer cartridges can be recycled using freepost envelopes. Freecycle (www.freecycle.org.uk) offers a great way to find someone in need of your surplus item, or you could try an online auction, car boot sale or your local charity shop.

A massive one billion Christmas cards could end up in bins across the UK this year (waste watch). The Woodland Trust will be collecting used cards from the 2^nd to the 31^st January in bins at Tesco, WH Smith, TK Maxx and Marks & Spencer. The target is to recycle 100 million, so collect up your neighbours and take them along too!

Please don’t put gift wrap in your green bin, as it has very little paper quality so is not a good material to recycle. Modern wrapping paper often contains foil or plastic and after giving, has tape and ribbon attached to it. If you are careful to remove all tape and other additions and the wrap is purely paper, then it can be recycled at your local paper bank.

All your Christmas peelings can be composted instead of thrown in your grey bin. Don’t worry if you think your garden is too small. You can start a small compost heap or get a kitchen composter which can be kept indoors. Garden composters are still available from as little as £8 including delivery.

There are over 60 banks in the borough for your bottles and jars. Drop when you shop and you’ll be surprised how quickly the mountain of empties disappears without feeling like an effort at all. Banks for clothes, books & shoes are also available, so have a clear out to make way for all those new gifts.

Please do not leave items or bags around the banks as apart from being unsightly and blocking the banks for others this can be dangerous too.

Did you know? Across the UK last Christmas, we consumed almost 5.5 million jars of mincemeat, 12 million jars of pickles and 6.5 million jars of cranberry sauce all packaged in glass, but only a small percentage were recycled (British Glass).

Make the most of your green bin this Christmas for all your paper, card, cans, plastic bottles and aerosols. If you have guests to stay make sure they know too. For all your other household items use the Household Waste Recycling Centre at Caister. Batteries, juice cartons, garden waste, metal, cooking oil and paint can all be recycled there.

Great Yarmouth Borough Council supports the above campaign launched by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). The campaign aims to reduce the amount of good food that is being thrown away by households across the Borough – particularly relevant over the festive period! More information can be found by visiting the website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com

Most of the eight million Christmas trees bought this year will be thrown away generating over 160,000 tonnes of additional rubbish – 21 times the weight of the Eiffel tower. (BCTGA (British Christmas Tree Growing Association) average 6-7 foot tree weight 20kg – weight of Eiffel tower being 7417 tonnes).

For those of you that have opted for a real Christmas tree this year collections of these will be available from January 2 to 14 at the following locations:

Christmas - the time of year when everything becomes frantic and we keep shopping for those ‘must have’ extras.

It is usually the time when the fridge becomes overloaded and we forget that the fridge struggles to keep temperature. Remember to try to keep enough space to allow the cold air to circulate so that the food you buy remains safe. Keep the raw food at the bottom and the cooked and dairy items at the top and keep everything covered. Remember to follow manufacturers’ guidelines regarding dates.

Looking back over the years numbers of cases of food poisoning increase for the month of December with a drop by half or more for the first two weeks of January, for example, last year the total for December was five reported cases and three for January – looking at it in simple terms five people in Great Yarmouth will have spent some of the festive season stuck in the bathroom!! Please make sure this isn’t you this Christmas!!

The next headache is how to deal with that turkey – some golden rules are given below to ensure you have a safe as well as happy Christmas.

If you are using frozen turkey make sure it is thoroughly defrosted before cooking because if ice crystals are still present in the cavity the recommended cooking times will not be long enough to ensure all food poisoning bacteria are killed. If the turkey contains the neck and giblets remove these as soon as you can to speed up the thawing process.

Ensure during the thawing process the turkey is in a large enough container to collect all the liquid, you may have to empty the container to pour away liquid at various intervals (be careful not to splash this liquid onto other foods or surfaces that could become contaminated).

Wash hands thoroughly after handling the raw turkey and also wash and disinfect any equipment which has come into contact with it.

As a general rule for cooking turkey allow 20 minutes per lb in weight and add 20 minutes to the total; assuming the oven is set at Gas mark 6, 200 degrees C (400 degrees F) and that the oven has been pre-heated before the meat goes in.

The timing is for an unstuffed turkey, it is better to cook the stuffing separately in a roasting tin rather than inside the bird so that the meat will cook more easily and cooking times will be more accurate

As well as following the cooking times it is important to look at the colour of the juices when you pierce the cooked turkey; these should run clear and not be ‘pink’ , remember to do this test at the thickest part of the turkey which is in the thigh/leg area. If you have a probe thermometer- even better! You should be looking for a temperature of 75 degrees C or higher (again tested at the thickest part of the bird).

After serving the hot roasted turkey the meat should be cooled as quickly as possible, preferably within 90 minutes and covered and refrigerated. When serving the turkey cold try to take out of the fridge only what you need for that serving leaving the rest in the fridge, avoid leaving it out for too long on a buffet table.

If you are re-heating left over turkey ensure it is piping hot (above 75 degrees C) - do not re-heat more than once. Do not keep the cooked meat beyond 2 to 3 days in the fridge.