Rescuing Christmas waste from landfill

Across the capital, thousands of tonnes of waste are sent to landfill unnecessarily.

Londoners throw away about 38,000 tonnes of paper and card over Christmas - enough to wrap Big Ben 34,000 times.

Around 500 tonnes of fairy lights are also dumped, most of which can be recycled.

The situation has become so bad that some councils have now opened shops at local tips for unwanted presents, where items with value are rescued from the bins and sold to the public.