City reminds citizens to properly reduce, reuse, and recycle holiday waste
Posted Dec 21, 2019 12:01 pm.
Last Updated Dec 22, 2019 11:56 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – With Christmas celebrations approaching fast, the City of Calgary is reminding everyone to not be a garbage-Grinch.
Remember to properly reduce, reuse, and recycle whenever possible when dealing with leftover waste during the holidays.
Wrapping paper, boxes, and leftover food all should be handled properly.
“Calgarians generally produce more waste over the holidays, but it doesn’t have to always be this way,” said Sharon Howland, Leader of Program Management with Waste & Recycling Services.
“Instead, celebrate with new holiday traditions that can help reduce and reuse all the wrapping paper, bubble wrap and plastic bags.”
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In an effort to reduce this Christmas, the City suggest a number of alternatives.
- Give the gift of experiences rather than physical goods.
- Buy items that come with less packaging or in recyclable packaging.
- Use fabric, newspaper/flyers, or old calendars to wrap gifts.
- Save gift wrap, gift bags, bows and ribbons for reuse.
- Plan your meals and holiday food shopping to prevent waste and save money.
- Skip the paper napkins in favour of a reusable cloth material.
- Use reusable containers for leftovers instead of plastic wrap or tin foil.
Remember to properly recycle when it comes to Christmas waste.
The following can be put into blue recycle cars:
- Wrapping paper and tissue paper.
- Cardboard boxes, gift boxes, shoe and shipping boxes – flatten your boxes to make extra room in your blue cart.
- Paper gift bags – Remove the handles before recycling.
- Holiday cards and envelopes
- Molded plastic packaging with recycling symbol #1-7 (commonly found with electronics and kids toys)
- Bubble wrap – bundle with other stretchy plastic bags and tie the handles closed.
- Cookie and chocolate tins – eat the cookies and chocolates first.
“The gift-giving season means a lot of gift wrap, boxes and other recyclables that belong in your blue cart,” said Howland.
If you’re not sure how to dispose of something, make sure to check on the City’s What Goes Where Tool.
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Garbage collection will be seeing some changes due to holiday celebrations.
There will be no collections on Christmas or New Year’s Day. Both take place on a Wednesday, so households that normally have their garbage collected then will have it collected to days earlier in those cases.
And lastly, when the season is wrapping up, remember to properly recycle real Christmas trees.
Calgarians can cut up their trees and place the pieces in their green bins, or drop off whole trees at certain locations throughout the city.
