Belfast residents are being urged to 'give the planet a gift' this Christmas as the city council launches its latest recycling campaign.

With recycling rates increasing, a series of 2D and 3D billboards across the city are reminding people to keep up their environmentally-friendly efforts during the festive season.

Latest figures from Belfast City Council show the recycling rate for 2007-08 is 23 per cent – slightly above target and up four per cent on last year – and residents are being urged to keep the 'reduce, reuse and recycle' message in mind as the party season gets into full swing.

Councillor Cathal Mullaghan, chairman of Belfast City Council's Health and Environmental Services Committee, said: "This time last year, we were celebrating the fact that Belfast had broken through the 20 per cent mark for the first time; a year on, and we are continuing to push up the recycling rate which is most welcome.

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"Christmas is a time when a lot of additional waste is created – from packaging to paper, cards and glass bottles to extra food waste, and up to 75 per cent of this can be recycled. And once the festive season has come to an end, we can also recycle real Christmas trees at any of Belfast City Council`s recycling centres."

He added: "There are some things, however, which unfortunately cannot be recycled such as wrapping paper and Christmas cards with lots of glitter or electronic messages so we should give some thought to what we are buying and consider alternatives that don`t cost the earth – literally."

Councillor Mullaghan added: "The need for us to recycle is becoming all the more apparent with tough European directives on waste management demanding a reduction in the amount of waste sent to landfill and Belfast people need to play their part or ultimately they, as the city`s ratepayers, will have to fork out to meet the hefty fines."

There are four state-of-the-art recycling centres to serve Belfast residents – the most recently opened being Ormeau at Park Road in the south of the city.

These facilities, as well as recycling centres at Alexandra Park in north Belfast, Blackstaff Way in west Belfast and Palmerston Road in the east of the city, will be open during the Christmas period.

(GK/SP)