THE decorations have come down, the bottles have been emptied and Santa has long since returned to Lapland but it's still the festive period at EnviroSort – Worcestershire's household recycling sorting facility.

All those cards, bottles, cans, envelopes, magazines, and food cartons that have been placed in recycling collections all head to the state-of the-art facility in Norton, near Worcester, where they are sorted, before being sent for recycling and eventually given a new lease of life helping to make things like cars, aeroplanes, newspapers and even new roads.

Around 6,500 tonnes of waste is expected to come through the doors during January, before being recycled and diverted from landfill sites – that's around 10 per cent more than in December.

During this time last year 738 tonnes of waste from Redditch was diverted from landfill sites – helping both the environment and the taxpayer. That's the equivalent in weight of 62 double-decker buses.

EnviroSort sorted and helped recycle around 70,000 tonnes in 2012/13 from Worcestershire and Herefordshire. The facility, managed by Severn Waste Services on behalf of Worcestershire County Council and Herefordshire Council, officially opened in 2010 and covers 5.8 acres, has more than a mile of conveyor belts, 145 electric motors and 12 miles of cable.

Councillor Anthony Blagg, Worcestershire County Council cabinet member for environment, said: "Seeing EnviroSort in action is a really impressive sight. It wasn't all that long ago that most of the waste generated over the Christmas and New Year festivities would have ended up heading to landfill sites. Thankfully, this hasn’t been the case now for a number of years and over the next few weeks we're expecting more than 6,500 tonnes to be sorted and recycled.

"The residents of Redditch have played their part in improving our recycling efforts. We're as committed as ever to continuing this positive trend as it's beneficial for the environment and our taxpayers as it cuts the amount of spend on Landfill Tax.

"Please keep up the good work, send your recyclables through the collections and EnviroSort will continue to do its bit."

For more information about EnviroSort, recycling and how to reduce household waste, visit letswasteless.com.