The holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year. Whether you’re cleaning up after Thanksgiving dinner or dealing with the mess from opening Christmas presents, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with waste.
Recycling is one of the best ways to reduce holiday waste and make your life easier this holiday season. Check out some of these holiday recycling tips you can use to keep your home clean and minimize waste during the holidays.
Preparing for the Holiday Season
Planning ahead is one of the best ways to make sure you’re ready for the holiday season. The best way to get ready for the holiday season is to clean your house and get rid of any unwanted clutter before Thanksgiving.
When it’s time to deal with the waste from Thanksgiving dinner, you’ll have room in your garbage and recycling bins. You can throw food waste in your compost bin, recyclables in your recycling bin, and everything else in your garbage bin.
This gives you plenty of time to clean everything up and prepare for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. If you can’t dispose of all your waste in a week, you can spread it out over a few curbside trash pickup days so it doesn’t pile up.
Christmas
Christmas is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to reducing holiday waste. From extravagant Christmas meals to the presents under the tree, your favorite Christmas activities result in a lot of leftover waste.
What’s recyclable at Christmas?
There are lots of items you can recycle to reduce holiday waste around Christmas, including:
- Cardboard boxes
- Most wrapping paper
- Plastic packaging
- Christmas trees
- Old electronics that are being replaced
Christmas recycling tips
Presents are the biggest focus when it comes to recycling during the Christmas season. In most cases, you can recycle everything but the present itself. Start by making sure you’re using recyclable wrapping paper — avoid foil or metallic paper. If you use bows or ribbons, throw them in the garbage before recycling wrapping paper and boxes.
You have a few options when it comes to your Christmas tree. You can cut your tree up and add it to your yard debris bin if you have a saw, or you can take it to a Christmas tree disposal location near you.
If you have a compost bin, you can throw your food waste in there to make sure you have enough room in your garbage bin.
Thanksgiving
Nothing beats gathering around the table with your family and enjoying Thanksgiving dinner, but you have a lot on your plate when it’s time to clean up. Following some basic sustainable holiday practices can help you reduce waste during Thanksgiving and make sure you’re prepared for Christmas.
What’s recyclable at Thanksgiving?
There aren’t quite as many items to recycle during Thanksgiving, but there are a few things you can recycle:
- Clean, uncoated paper plates
- Some plastic cups
- Aluminum, steel and tin cans
- Glass bottles
- Cardboard cartons for juice and milk
Thanksgiving recycling tips
Minimizing waste during Thanksgiving is all about keeping things clean as you go. When you’re using canned goods, place them by the sink so you can rinse them out when you get a chance. From canned corn and green beans to cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie spice, you can recycle all the cans you use during the holidays.
If you’re using plastic cups and paper plates, you may be able to recycle some of those items. Uncoated paper plates that aren’t soiled with food are recyclable, and certain types of plastic cups are recyclable. Check with your curbside recycling provider for specifics.
Composting is one of our favorite holiday recycling tips during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Starting a compost bin is affordable and easy, and composting helps you enrich the soil in your garden while minimizing food waste. You can compost most food waste during Thanksgiving, but you don’t want to add too much raw meat since it can attract pests.
New Year’s Eve
New Year’s Eve might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the holiday season, but New Year’s parties can generate tons of garbage. Keeping a few sustainable holiday practices in mind can help you avoid the New Year’s Day mess.
What’s recyclable at New Year’s Eve?
If you’re hosting a New Year’s Eve party, there are lots of items you can recycle to make more space in your garbage bin:
- Cardboard boxes and cardboard decorations
- Clean, uncoated paper plates
- Some plastic cups
- Glass bottles
- Cans and plastic bottles
New Year’s Eve recycling tips
Focusing on sustainability is one of the best things you can do when you’re planning a New Year’s party. While some plastic cups and paper plates are recyclable, others aren’t. If you’re going to use paper plates or plastic cups, make sure you can recycle them.
If you’re enjoying drinks for New Year’s Eve, those bottles or cans are usually recyclable. Glass bottles, plastic bottles and aluminum cans can go in your curbside recycling bin, or you can redeem CRV containers for cash.
You can set up recycling containers around your house to minimize waste from guests. Clearly mark each container to let people know where they can put their cans and bottles, paper and cardboard, and other waste.
Minimize Waste by Recycling This Holiday Season
Keeping your house clean can feel like a full-time job during the holidays, but it’s all about having a plan and following sustainable holiday practices. Whether you’re having the family over for Thanksgiving or hosting a New Year’s Eve party with dozens of guests, recycling is one of the best ways to reduce holiday waste and keep your home clean.
If you haven’t started recycling, now is the perfect time to start. You can sign up for curbside garbage and recycling pickup, or you can visit our Long Beach recycling center. Corridor Recycling makes your life easy by giving you a convenient place to take all your recyclable materials.
Want to learn more about how we can help you reduce holiday waste? Contact Corridor Waste or bring your holiday recyclables to our recycling center today.