Republic Services Announces Recycling “Naughty and Nice List” for Holiday Decorations and Gift Wrapping

The following information is from a press release issued by Republic Services:

Even if you’ve been a good recycler all year long, it may still be a challenge to figure out what to do with holiday decorations and gift wrap after the holidays. To make it easy, Republic Services has its own “naughty and nice” list of recyclable holiday materials.

NICE (recyclable)                              

• Gift boxes                                           
• Tissue paper (consider reusing)              
• Shoe boxes  (consider reusing)             
• Christmas tree (decorations, tinsel)       
• Paper holiday cards/envelopes               
• Gift bags (paper)                                 

 NAUGHTY (not recyclable)

• Bubble wrap (consider reusing)
• Foil or coated wrapping paper
• Ribbon and bows 
• Anything on the tree 
• Sticky gift labels
• Gift bags if coated, laminated, dyed
• Foam peanuts

“Most wrapping paper, while it contains paper, cannot be recycled because it is oftendyed and laminated or may contain non-paper additives, such as gold and silver coloring, glitter and plastics,” said Anne Laughlin, Community Relations Manager. “There are many ways to wrap packages creatively, using reusable fabric or wrapping a gift within a gift.”

Christmas trees must be stripped of all decorations (tinsel, lights, bells, ornaments, etc.) before the tree can be mulched or composted. Trees can go in your yard waste container or bundled with twine next to the container if they are cut down to 4-foot long pieces that are smaller than 4 inches in diameter. Bundles should not weigh more than 60 pounds.

When packing and shipping gifts, use sustainable packing materials or reuse foam peanuts you may have saved when you received a gift. Foam peanuts are made frompolystyrene and are usually not recyclable. If you receive foam peanuts in packages, consider reusing them for later shipping.

Instead of a bow on top of packages, try of using an ornament or other decoration that can be reused again next year. Reuse ribbon and greeting cards you receive this season along with recycle paperboard and paper envelopes for festive gift tags next year.

More clever ideas for recycling and reusing holiday materials can be found at the following link: http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/ecoconsumer/green-holidays.asp