Rapid City Journal: Residents Encouraged to Recycle this Christmas
Filed under: Earth911 - December 25, 2007
By Katie Brown
Piles of wrapped boxes, a festive tree, bottles of spirits – in a few days, it will all be trash. But a large share of the trash left over from the holidays can be recycled, said Guy Krugjohn, solid waste collection supervisor for the City of Rapid City.
Christmas trees, for example, are turned into compost.
Krugjohn said trees can be disposed of at the yard waste sites in Rapid City.
Those sites, which close every November for the winter, are turned into tree-only disposal sites from Dec. 26 to Jan. 25.
He said no other yard waste will be accepted at those sites.
Krugjohn said those sites also have recycling bins for cardboard, newspaper, glass, plastic, aluminum and tin.
Wrapping paper and plastic foam should be put in the regular garbage for pickup.
“As a service to the people of Rapid City, we run an extra manual load truck around the holidays and pick up extra cardboard, wrapping and miscellaneous Christmas packaging,” he said.
Andrew McCloud, South Dakota Recycling Coordinator, said recycling waste accumulated during the holidays helps the environment.
“Definitely with Christmas time, there will be a lot of waste that is accumulated, and most of that can be recycled,” McCloud said.
He said it helps to try to reuse cardboard boxes and Christmas wrapping supplies.
“The people of South Dakota are pretty environmentally conscious,” he said.
Recycle technology
If you get a new cell phone or iPod for Christmas, don’t throw the old one away. McCloud said old electronics, which can be harmful to the environment if thrown out with regular waste, can be recycled through some businesses.
Office Depot offers a tech recycling service.
Office Depot spokeswoman Melissa Perlman said old “tech trash” is accepted by all Office Depot stores in the United States, including the one in Rapid City. Tech trash includes old cell phones, computer monitors, printers and any other technology, excluding appliances.
“During the holiday season, a lot of consumers purchase new technology, and a lot of people have waste,” Perlman said.
Office Depot sells three sizes of boxes that can be filled with any type of electronic and returned to the store. They cost $5, $10 and $15.
“Customers have the option to buy one of these three boxes and fill it with anything from their back office or desk drawers,” Perlman said.
Office Depot then ships the items to a tech recycling center, where they are recycled into copper, glass, aluminum and plastic.
“The cost of the box covers all shipping and handling and the goal is to provide the complete solution to our customers,” she said.
Anne Reichman of Earth 911, an environmental agency based in Scottsdale, Ariz., said making the extra effort to recycle makes a big difference.
“You can actually really minimize the waste that you’re throwing away,” Reichman said. “It’s a very important thing people need to consider because it’s the best thing for their community.”
She said the increased waste during the holidays should be recycled if possible. Reusing packing materials or donating them to an outlet that can use them is a good way to recycle plastic foam and other items that often are not accepted by recycling centers.
Reichman said if you don’t know whether a dirty item is recyclable, throw it out.
She said one contaminated item, such as a piece of cardboard with food waste on it, can contaminate an entire load of otherwise recyclable cardboard.
“When in doubt, throw it out,” Reichman said.