Christmas consumption will generate enough glass to bottle 1.2m cases of wine

Irish people will use enough glass over Christmas to bottle over 1.2 million cases of wine, according to recycling body Repak, in a reminder to seasonal celebrants to dispose of waste responsibly.

The organisation encouraged consumers to recycle as much as possible after the festive season, which will generate some 62,368 tonnes of packaging waste.

Repak claimed over half the gifts people will receive will be considered “useless” and has urged them to recycle or pass them on.

Survey

A survey of 1,001 people carried out by Amárach Research found 60 per cent of women listed “dubious-smelling perfume gift sets” as their most useless gifts, followed by bath sets (25 per cent), decorative boxes (23 per cent) and “chick lit” novels (22 per cent.)

Superfluous food was also an issue in the survey, with 40 per cent of people admitting they will eat double their normal rations on Christmas Day.

Over half will dump their leftovers in the bin.