Waste created over Christmas

A selection of items that contributed to the nation's waste over the Christmas period as assessed by the environmental agency, Repak.

• Four million rolls of gift wrap. If spread out, this would completely cover half the size of Leinster.

• 20 million wine bottles

• 106 million plastic bottles

• 64 million beverage cans

• People consumed enough beer and other drinks to fill over 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools (317.5 million litres)

• 30,000 tonnes of cardboard

• Millions of Christmas cards

• The amount of packaging waste generated would cover Lansdowne pitch 336 times

• On average each household consumed 16 bottles of wine, 50 cans of drinks, 83 plastic bottles of drinks and three rolls of gift wrap.

Source: Repak