Jacksonville Daily News: Many Holiday Leftovers Can Be Easily Recycled

Filed under: Earth 911 - December 26, 2008

By Molly K Dewitt

Here’s where you can drop off items for recycling in Onslow County:

The following convenience centers are open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

These convenience centers are open one day a week from noon to 6 p.m.:

With the New Year just around the corner, now is the time to clear out all those leftover holiday items and give them another use through recycling.

“Recycling is really important all year round for the environment especially during the holidays because we throw away so much stuff,” said Lisa Grant, administrator for the solid waste department of Keep Onslow Beautiful.

Live Christmas trees can be recycled through the city of Jacksonville’s weekly yard waste collection.

Keep Onslow Beautiful will also be collecting Christmas trees through the end of January for use as dune stabilization.

“You put the trees in between the dune systems, you put them in between dune lines and when the wind blows the sand it blows the sand between the branches and it kind of forms its own little dune,” Grant said. “It’s the same idea as sand fences.”

Trees can be dropped off next to the large green recycle container at 604 College St. in Jacksonville.

“It keeps them out of the landfill and that’s pretty much our whole program: waste reduction methods,” Grant said.

Hammocks Beach State Park will not be accepting Christmas trees for recycling this year due to an upcoming dredging project.

Wrapping paper, greeting cards and gift bags are not recyclable through Jacksonville’s city collection but can be dropped off at one of the area’s recycling centers. Jacksonville will, however, recycle greeting card envelopes.

When recycling gift bags, be sure to remove the handles or strings from the bag. Likewise, ribbon used to wrap gifts is not recyclable, Grant said.

“When in doubt, I always say throw it in there because they’re going to separate it anyway,” she said.

If recycling all of the pretty paper and gifts bags seems like a waste, the Web site www.Earth911.com recommends several other uses for wrapping paper and gift bags such as use them to line boxes and envelopes, make clothes for paper dolls and other toys, make book covers or scrapbook pages, or use as matting when framing items. Gift bags can also be saved and re-used.

The Salvation Army on Center Street and Goodwill on Western Boulevard both accept gift bags as donations.

Aluminum foil and pie tins that have accumulated from all those delicious holiday dishes can be recycled curbside and at recycling centers.

“Everything we recycle does not go into the landfill; that’s always important,” said Terry Polk, administrative assistant with the city of Jacksonville Sanitation Department. “Anything we can divert from the landfill, that just helps in the long run, whether it’s a holiday or not.”

While there are no local recycling programs that accept Christmas lights, www.HolidayLEDs.com will take old lights via mail for recycling.

The lights are processed, and any material that cannot be recycled is discarded. The lights are then taken to a recycling facility where the company puts the lights through a commercial shredder. The pieces are further processed and sorted into the various components such as pvc, glass and copper. The materials are then separated and sent to a region recycling center for additional processing, according to the company’s Web site.

In addition to recycling your old lights, HolidayLEDs.com will e-mail you a coupon for 15 percent off any purchase made on their site.

Lights can be mailed to HolidayLEDs.com, Attn: Recycling Program, 2500 W. Argyle St., Jackson, MI, 49202. Be sure to include your name, mailing address and e-mail address to receive the discount coupon.

For more information about recycling through Keep Onslow Beautiful call 910-455-4470 or visit www.onslowcounty.gov/landfill.

For questions or information regarding the city of Jacksonville’s recycling program call 910-938-5338.

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