County Backs Down on Xmas Wrapping Paper Ban

4.22.25pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 3rd Jan 2006

Hampshire County Council has been forced into a u-turn and will not now try to block Christmas wrapping paper from being recycled. The council admits that its Christmas publicity blitz aimed at Hampshire homes was a flop.

The revelations came in an last minute e-mail from a County official to Hampshire's district councils.

The e-mail said that a failure by a distribution company meant that many Hampshire homes did not receive notification of the ban on Christmas wrapping paper.

This means that properly sorted Christmas Wrapping paper can now be put out for kerbside recycling collection by residents.

Lib Dem County Spokesman Keith House said,

"This is a last-minute victory for common-sense and the for the Lib Dem campaign to increase recycling. We said Hampshire residents could be trusted to put out paper wrap for recycling and not foil wraps. It's just a shame this decision was only announced in an e-mail on the last working day before Christmas, and even then not released to the press."