The holidays are upon us and along with the spirit and celebration the season has to offer is one somewhat less festive reality: What do we do with all the waste we generate?
We're so glad you asked! Here’s your annual primer on how to deal with holiday garbage and waste in Troutdale.
Curbside pickup
First things first: Christmas Day 2022 and News Year’s Day 2022 both fall on Mondays so that will not affect the collection schedule in Troutdale. The simple guideline from Waste Management is that if they do not fall on the weekend, those holidays push back your collection day by one day. But no worries this year!
What can I recycle?
Before we get into recycling, it’s always good to remember that recycling is the third option in reduce, reuse, recycle. So when you're getting ready to wrap gifts keep that in mind. Instead of buying a new fancy pack of gift wrap, consider using what you already have: think previously used gift wrap, boxes, and bags, newspaper comics, or old maps and calendars. If that look isn’t for you, here are some other creative ideas.
But no matter what you use, the key thing to remember is that not all gift wrap is recyclable. If the gift wrap behaves like paper — even if it's shiny — it can go into home recycling bins. This is similar material to what we find in magazines so it is accepted. But wrap that is foil, has glitter, or is plastic-coated paper must go in the trash if you can't reuse it.
A great way to tell if your gift wrap is recyclable is trying the “scrunch test”. If you can crumple it into a ball and it stays scrunched up, it’s good to go in the blue bin. If it opens back up, it goes in the trash. The video below illustrates this perfectly:
Styrofoam, packing peanuts and plastic packaging go into the garbage – even if you see a recycling symbol on them. Same goes for bows and ribbons if you can't salvage them for re-use.
Have a stack of holiday cards from friends and family? Consider using them next year as gift tags or place setting cards. Just remember that cards embossed with foil or other non-paper material, such as photos, go in the garbage if you can't reuse them.
One more fact that might surprise you? Whether it’s white or colored, patterned, glittered or plain, tissue paper is NOT recyclable. The best option is to try to salvage what you can and reuse it, but failing that, it must go in the trash.
Looking for more ideas on how to cut holiday waste? Metro has plenty of helpful tips on their website as well as their very helpful Recycle or Not Instagram page.
What about the tree?
This one’s easy: most of us can recycle it at home. Trees that are free of lights, ornaments, tinsel, nails, etc. can go into your yard debris bin and collected by Waste Management at no extra charge. Larger trees may need to be cut in half.
Please note that if your tree is left outside of the yard debris bin, there will be an extra fee. And this is important: if your trees is placed outside of the bin, it must be cut into pieces that are 4 feet or shorter and the trunk should not be more than 4 inches in diameter – and each 4 foot piece placed outside of the cart will accrue a fee.
For more information check out Metro’s Christmas Tree Recycling page.
Any more questions about about service, missed pick-ups and bills? Call Waste Management's customer service line at (503) 249-8078. Call hours are Monday-Friday, 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Reducing food waste
Want to save money this holiday season? Cutting back on food waste is a great place to start! Not only will you spend less money by buying less food, you will also help to reduces methane emissions from landfills, conserve energy and resources, and even support your community. Waste Management has some great quick tips on food waste reduction and this page from the EPA goes into a bit more depth.
The truth is, you might be surprised at how much food — and money — we throw away every day.
Original source can be found here.
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