San Luis Obispo Tribune: Recycle or Reuse Debris of Holiday; Don’t Trash It
Filed under: Earth 911 - December 25, 2007
By Sarah Linn
For most, the hoopla of the holiday season results in mountains of crumpled boxes, Styrofoam, greeting cards and tangled tree lights. It’s tempting to toss it all in the trash.
But there’s an Earth-friendly way to deal with all of those holiday leftovers.
“Most of this stuff can be recycled,” said Bill Worrell, manager of the county’s Integrated Waste Management Authority.
Although many Central Coast residents remember to recycle their dead, dry Christmas trees, they often forget things like gift wrap, packing peanuts and other clutter than can harm the environment.
Local experts including Worrell, Sierra Club Santa Lucia chapter director An-drew Christie, and Aeron Arlin Genet, planning and out-reach manager for the county Air Pollution Control District, gave suggestions as to how to have a greener holiday season.
“People might think it’s more work to be green or environmentally friendly, but it’s really just a simple change in lifestyle,” said Stacy Shull, a county air quality specialist.
Here are some tips to keep your holidays green:
Bags and boxes
Paper gift, grocery and shopping bags go in the blue recycling container supplied by local trash companies. To recycle plastic bags, drop them off at local grocery stores. You’ll find designated bins near the front doors of most stores.
Flatten boxes, place them in the blue recycling container or stack them neatly next to the bin.
Another idea:U-Haul invites folks to drop boxes off at company locations for other families to use, free of charge. You can advertise the availability of unwanted boxes through www.uhaul.com/boxex change.
Dinnerware
To save energy, wash china and flatware by hand, or load dishes into the washer using “water miser” and “air dry” settings.
Plates, cups and other disposable dishware are recyclable if they’re made of paper or “rigid” non-Styrofoam plastic.
Rinse or scrape off excess food before recycling.
Plastic forks, knives and spoons, on the other hand, cannot be recycled. The most eco-friendly solution is to wash and reuse.
To maintain air quality, plastic flatware and used paper napkins should not be burned.
Food
“Pre-consumer” food scraps—uncooked vegetable waste such as potato peels, carrot tops and apple cores—can go in the green yard waste container or your backyard compost bin.
Gift wrap
Wrapping paper contains heavy pigments and metallic inks that make it impossible to recycle.What’s more, presents are often covered with plastic tape, ribbons and bows.
Burning the stuff, especially cellophane and plastic gift wrap, can release harmful chemicals into the air. Don’t chuck gift wrap in the garbage can. Save it for next year’s birthdays, anniversaries and bar mitzvahs.
Greeting cards
Most greeting cards are recyclable in the blue bin, except for the ones that that play “Jingle Bells.” Singing greeting cards have metal and computer chips in them and are considered “household hazardous waste,” illegal to dump.
They should be taken to the county’s five hazardous waste sites. Visit www.iwma.com or call 782-8530 for a list. Old greeting cards can double as holiday decorations, gift tags or postcards.
Lights
Local companies do not recycle holiday lights, but a Michigan company will accept strands of incandescent bulbs through the end of January.
Send your old lights to HolidayLEDS.com, 120 W. Michigan Ave., Suite 1403, Jackson, MI 49201. Call 1- 888-430-6551 or visit www.holidayleds.com.
Packing materials
Bags of clean Styrofoam packing peanuts can be dropped off at Central Coast shipping stores including UPS and Mail Boxes, Etc.
A few stores also accept bubble wrap, air bags and Styrofoam inserts, such as Perry’s Parcel and Courier in Atascadero, and Perry’s Morro Bay Mail Center and Mail Plus in Morro Bay.
Packages
Rigid plastic packages now encase everything from action figures to video game controllers. Luckily, they’re recyclable.
Remove the cardboard insert from the plastic before placing it in the blue bin to ensure that both plastic and cardboard are recycled.
Foam plastic, known commonly as Styrofoam, cannot be recycled. It can be reused.
Christmas trees
After removing tinsel, lights, ornaments and tree stands, cut the tree into pieces no longer than four feet and place in curbside green waste containers. Many local groups also collect trees for woodchips, compost and mulch. The same goes for wreaths, garlands and other greenery — be sure to remove any wire forms first.
Check www.iwma.com or www.earth911.com for a list of tree recyclers. Flocked trees must be dumped. Reuse faux trees or donate them to local thrift stores.
Tree stands
Recycle metal and plastic tree stands—free of tree sap and other debris—in the blue bin.
Unwanted presents
Instead of letting that ugly sweater or singing toy fish rot in your closet, give unwanted gifts to charities such as Goodwill Industries and Achievement House, Inc. There are also a number of church-run thrift shops in the county.