WE MUST ALL be feeling generous this year, as the average number of Easter eggs people plan to give is three.

That’s according to Repak, which says that last year, almost 17 million Easter eggs were sold.

But we’re not so brilliant at recycling, so Repak has launched an Easter campaign to try and get us to sort out our waste this weekend.

This year, according to its survey:

• 40 per cent of people will spend over €40 on alcohol over the Easter break
• Just three in 10 are planning to drink alcohol on Good Friday
• Men, young adults and Dubliners will spend the most on alcohol over Easter
• We will consume enough calories over the Easter Break to run 411,868 marathons
• 80 per cent of adults plan to give Easter eggs to someone over this Easter
• The average number of eggs people plan to give is three
• 60 per cent of people in Ulster and Connaught will give over four eggs

Irish households generated nearly 40,000 tonnes of used packaging in Easter 2013 – but Easter egg packaging still only accounts for less than 2 per cent (500 tonnes) of all packaging consumed over Easter.

With this in mind, Repak are encouraging consumers to recycle their packaging waste over the holiday period.

Alcohol

Forty per cent of people surveyed predicted they will spend over €40 on alcohol over the Easter break, but just 30 per cent are planning to drink alcohol tomorrow on Good Friday.

Who’s least likely to observe an alcohol-free Good Friday? Dubliners – 41 per cent are planning to drink on tomorrow, while just 23 per cent of people in Munster are planning to drink then.

When surveyed, 64 per cent of children and 59 per cent women nationwide expect to get up to four Easter eggs… but are not likely to give them.

Once again, Dubliners stood out – this time as being the most demanding, with 10 per cent expecting to receive over four eggs.

Recyclers

Repak looked at who was recycling during the Easter break and found that middle aged and mature adults are the best recyclers during the Easter break.

Munster is the county with the best intentions of recycling during the Easter break.

You can find out about the bring bank locations and recycling centres near you by visiting this website.

Mind those pints

Meanwhile, drinkaware.ie is encouraging people to “remember the morning after” if drinking alcohol while socialising this weekend.

Its Chief Executive, Fionnuala Sheehan said that according to official Garda figures, 124 drivers were arrested for “driving under the influence” (DUI) over the Easter bank holiday weekend last year.

This weekend, each Garda Division will be carrying out a series of checkpoints on Irish roads.

There were over 400 incidents of “drivers under the influence” between the hours of 8am to 1pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings in the period from 1 January  to 27 September 2013.

In that period, on Saturday mornings, 101 detections were made by Gardaí; on Sunday mornings the number was 208, more than five times greater than the mid-week detection figure.

Drinkaware.ie also has some practical tips on making the most of the Bank Holiday weekend and getting home safely:

• Set your pace. Pace yourself with water or a soft drink after every alcoholic drink and you’ll sparkle all night long. Ideally something more substantial than Easter eggs! Having snacks or a meal with your drink is also a good idea.
• Measure up. Invest in a spirit measure so that you can stick to pub measures. Home measures can be double the size of those served in a pub!
• Plan ahead. At the start of an evening out, put aside some cash to cover your taxi fare home so you can avoid making an unnecessary late night visit to the ATM.  Alternatively choose a taxi service like Hailo Taxi that offers a credit card payment service.
• Breath-testing. The boys in blue are out in force this bank holiday weekend, morning and evening, and random tests are commonplace.
• The day after. The only real cure is time. Even if you feel better after a ‘cure’ you still may not be fit to drive. Your body gets rid of roughly one standard drink – that’s half a pint or a small glass of wine or a pub measure of spirits – per hour.

You can find out how many drinks you have on a night out by using the drinks calculator on www.drinkaware.ie.

Read: Give up ‘yer auld sins: Shoppers targeted with with pre-Easter ‘confession blitz’>

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