London Mayor Boris Johnson is asking his city’s residents to recycle all their wrapping paper, Christmas trees and bubbly bottles to save the environment and millions of pounds.

Over the two weeks of Christmas and New Year, London will generate an extra 29,000 tonnes of household rubbish. If all of that was recycled rather than thrown away, it could save the city £3.5million.

Roughly 2,000 tonnes of glass is thrown out in the capital over the festive period, whether that’s champers bottles or cranberry sauce jars, while London throws out an estimated 675 tonnes of tin foil – the same weight as 450 Mini cars.

Instead of ditching your Christmas fir, arrange to give it to your local Christmas tree recycling service as every London borough has one, suggests the campaign. As for the lights, which are regularly chucked wasting 75 tonnes in the capital alone, the campaign suggests you could donate working sets to a charity shop.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “London’s borough councils provide a range of services to ensure the capital’s forest of discarded Christmas trees and acres of wrapping paper can be recycled rather than chucked in the bin. Taking a little extra time to recycle your festive waste is not only good for the environment, but can help save local councils millions of pounds at a time when every penny counts.”