Whatever you’re pitching to the curb this holiday season, from your live tree to uneaten giblets,聽recycling officials hope you’ll聽separate聽trash from recyclables聽during the聽most garbage-generating time of the year.
The amount of waste in the Brevard landfill grows by about 10 percent聽between the Thanksgiving and New Year’s holidays, when Americans nationwide聽toss 25 percent more trash than any other time of year.
And聽a few easy tips can help get all that stuff聽where it needs to go, said Wanda Scanes, recycling coordinator for聽Brevard County Solid 豆包成人版 Management.
"Most residents have good intentions when it comes to recycling," she said. "Sometimes, in their goal to recycle as much as possible, items get tossed into the recycling cart that do not belong."
Like …聽those turkey parts.聽Or glitter-covered or flocked gift wrap. Or that ham bone.
"Common contaminants during the holidays include strings of lights, tinsel, ornaments, gift bags, gift bows, wrapping paper, tissue paper, and food waste," said Scanes.
"Strings of lights, tinsel聽and bows get tangled in the machinery at the recycling facility, causing damage and down time."
In addition, gift bags, wrapping paper and tissue paper are made from paper fibers that are too short to be recycled, Scanes聽said.聽
And "food waste leaves oily residue on paper/cardboard leading to the whole load being thrown away instead of recycled," she said.
As for those trees, pull them out to the聽curb for pickup on your regular yard waste collection day. They’ll become part of the 12,708 tons of聽yard debris聽the landfill gets per month. And those trees will get transformed into mulch, available free to Brevard聽residents during landfill operating hours.
"Ensure the yard waste is 4 foot聽in length and 24 inches聽in diameter, and all decorations have been removed," said Scanes. Also, don’t put it in a bag.
Melbourne resident Sarah Hansen has made a conscious commitment to聽recycle聽and reuse.
Hansen’s family, she said,聽buy gifts聽which they’ll really use — and even her 7-year-old son, Jack, "doesn’t see conspicuous consumption so he doesn’t expect 50-plus聽things under the tree."
That mindset extends to holiday meals.
"We don’t buy a lot of processed stuff so that cuts down on a lot of packaging waste," Hansen said.
"We don’t use paper towels. We use cloth napkins, rags, etc. We have napkins but don’t use them much. We don’t waste food: leftovers are straight up or turned into something else. I took the veggies from the veggie platter and聽roasted some of them for last night’s dinner. I also made a stir fry with聽some, using rice from Christmas Eve, half of聽that batch in the freezer for some other time,聽and salad toppings for the rest. Food waste accounts for a lot in landfills. That’s your money you’re throwing away."
Erin Baird-Jack of Cocoa hasn’t bought anything new, except for a car and a cell phone, in 10 years. That way of life has made聽her holidays even greener, too.
"All of my gifts are recycled or consumable," she said. "All wrapping is recycled too, boxes, bags, tissue reused year after year; all holiday decor is thrifted."
Another Cocoa resident, Sara Ann Conkling, uses聽Trader Joe’s holiday grocery bags for wrapping, "as they’re聽recyclable," she said.
"Also this year, I hand-painted some cardboard gift boxes instead of wrapping them," Conkling said. "Everyone who received one is keeping their box."
For Hansen, eschewing overt commercialism and a dedication to recycling pays homage to her ancestors, too. "I live by my grandma’s motto: The most important things in life aren’t things," she said.
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