Christmas recycling - tips for keeping the recycling stream clean this holiday season

‘Tis the season for wrapping presents, baking cookies, trimming trees and lighting lights. With the holidays in full swing, it’s the perfect time to make sure the items you put into your red-lid recycling cart don’t spoil the spirit of recycling right.

Things that CAN go into the recycling cart

• Wrap it up. Now that mixed waste paper is back at curbside recycling, it’s OK to toss your used wrapping paper into your recycling cart — no foil, plastic wrap or tissue paper, please. While you’re at it, you can toss in the paperboard wrapping paper tube, as well.
• Show your cards. Greeting cards and the envelopes they came in are also mixed waste paper and can go straight into your recycling cart. If you made a few holiday to-do lists on index cards or Post-It Notes, they can be recycled too.
• Get rid of those ho-ho-holiday catalogs. You know those holiday catalogs you get in the mail every day? If you don’t want them — or when you’re done with them — put them into your red-lid cart for recycling. The same is true for junk mail, magazines and envelopes.
• Un-box the clutter. Now that the presents are opened, what do you do with all those boxes? Simple. Break them down and add the paperboard wrapping boxes and the corrugated cardboard to your recycling cart. You can also put shoe boxes, cereal boxes, cracker boxes, rice boxes, pasta boxes and pop can cases into the commingled recycling cart.
• Bring on the holiday baking. Whether it’s a gingerbread house, a favorite Christmas-time cake or cookies for Santa, when you’re done with the baking and are tackling the kitchen cleanup, just remember that cake mix boxes, plastic milk jugs, plastic cooking oil containers (#1 and #2, neck smaller than the base) and paper egg cartons can all be recycled curbside.

Don’t forget that newspaper, tin and aluminum cans, corrugated cardboard, and #1 and #2 plastic bottles and jugs (neck smaller than base) can also go into your recycling cart. By only putting materials in the red-lid roll cart that belong there, you’re doing your part to keep the recycling stream clean.

Things that CANNOT go into the recycling cart

• Don’t light it up. At some point, the lights you use for the tree or outside have bulbs that go out — or the entire strand goes bad. These cannot be recycled and need to go into the trash.
• Don’t toy around. Christmas is a time when children receive new toys from Santa. If that means retiring old toys, consider donating them if they’re in good condition. If they’re not, they belong in the garbage, not in the recycling.
• Please, no plastic bags or wrappers. Plastic bags can be helpful around the holidays for gathering items together or picking up post-Christmas trash. But plastic bags do not belong in recycling. The same goes for any plastic wrapping that comes from toys, household items and other things you may unwrap as gifts. And because this is the time of year with a heavier-than-normal amount of shipped packages, remember that Styrofoam peanuts (and Styrofoam of any type) and plastic air bags used in packing must go in the trash — they cannot be recycled.
• Dining on the go? Just say no. Everyone is busy at this time of year. And that means more take-out food. If that means clamshell or Styrofoam food storage containers of any type, be sure and take them to the trash.
• Ribbons and bows are a big holiday no-no. While wrapping paper (no foil, plastic wrap or tissue) can be recycled, the sparkly ribbons and bows that often come with it cannot. Please make sure any ribbons and bows go into the trash cart and not the red-lid recycling cart.
• Clothing, fabric and textiles don’t make the cut. Much like toys, the holidays see a big uptick in new clothes and other items made from fabric. What do you do when it’s out with the old to make room for the new? Donate to a favorite charitable organization is your best way to give them a second life. Unfortunately, clothing, bath towels, bedding, pillows, dish towels, socks, blankets, yarn and fabric do not belong in the red-lid roll cart.

Some items that can’t be recycled at the curb — including glass jars and bottles and electronics — can be dropped off for recycling at the Transfer Station in White City. For more information on what you can drop off at the Recycling Depot, click here. Glass containers and jars can also be dropped off at our glass depots located conveniently at the following locations.

Not sure if it’s trash or recyclable? Our website can help!

Have something you want to dispose of or recycle but you’re not sure how? Head back to the home page of our website, look for the gray box with the magnifying glass icon and headline that says “What Do I Do With __________?, then type in the item you’re curious about and you’ll find out whether it can be recycled or needs to go in the trash.

Looking for recycling help at your fingertips? There’s an app for that!

Not sure if tin cans are recyclable? What about batteries? Banana peels? Paperback books? Download the Rogue Disposal Mobile app from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store and you’re good to go. Then next time you have something to get rid of but you’re not sure how, simply type in the item name and click “search.” It’s that easy. Find out more about this free download here — including links to the app stores.