Recycling Hints and Tips for Easter

1. Cardboard - Compress/fold cardboard box flat and put into household dry recyclable bin or bring to your nearest recycling centre.

2. Plastics – Most Easter egg molded plastic is PET denoted by a triangle with the number 1 inside. This can go into most plastic bottle collection systems.

3. Foil – We recommend you Scrunch these up, and put the foil in an aluminium can and place in dry recyclable household collection bin or bring it to your nearest recycling centre.
4. Check http://www.repak.ie/ to find the nearest centre in your area and also to check what materials they accept.

5. Make Easter treats instead of buying shop bought eggs. Children will love helping make chocolate cornflake cakes, or creating Easter bunny-shaped biscuits. If you do buy Easter eggs, get ones with minimal recyclable packaging and use a reusable bag to take them home.

6. Recycle Easter cards in your household bin collection. Better still, instead of sending a card, reduce waste by sending your greeting by e-mail.

7. If you are planning a big Easter lunch, buy loose fruit and vegetables, rather than pre-packaged ones.

8. Don't forget to compost the fruit and vegetable peelings. If you've been gardening over the weekend, add your plant prunings and grass cuttings. The compost will improve the quality of the soil and help plants grow.

9. Put any glass bottles, jars and tins in your local BringBank

The Easter Egg tradition

Ø The Easter egg tradition began with painted egg shells but the modern variety is made from chocolate and packaged in a variety of colourful packaging.

Ø The first chocolate eggs were made in Europe in the early 19th century (source Checkout.ie). Since then these chocolate eggs have become richer and more varied and come in ever more elaborate wrapping.
Ø In 2006, the world’s most expensive Easter egg was created by La Maison du Chocolat in London. The Diamond Stella Egg was 60cm tall and covered with 100 half-carat diamonds. Its price tag was a mere snip at $100,000 (source http://www.bornrich.org/).
Ø This pales in comparison with Fabergé eggs. The first Fabergé egg was created in 1884 as an Easter egg for Czar Alexander III. These elaborate eggs were made of gold and silver and decorated with diamonds, sapphires and rubies. A total of 57 were made for various czars. One of these eggs the “Winter Egg” was sold in 2002 for $9.5 million. Another, the Coronation Egg is valued at between $18-24 million (Source http://www.artsjournal.com/).
Ø This price tag may prove a bit steep for most people this Easter. However, the Irish Easter egg market is worth a staggering €32 million, with over 6.5 million sold at an average price of €5 each. People are willing to spend increasingly larger sums of money on Easter eggs but it is worth bearing in mind the other costs to the environment at Easter.