Reduce, reuse and recycle holiday waste with tips from York Region

NEWMARKET – The Regional Municipality of York reminds residents to keep reusable and recyclable holiday waste out of the trash.  Residents can use these helpful guidelines to divert waste from landfills throughout the holiday season:

 

These holiday items are recyclable and CAN be put in the Blue Box:
• Non-metallic wrapping paper
• Greeting cards, envelopes, gift cards and tags
• Cardboard packaging and boxes (with all plastic wrap removed and put in garbage)
• 2007 calendars (coils removed)
• Aluminum foil, plates and trays
• Plastic bakery containers (muffin trays, cupcake trays, etc.)
• Egg nog cartons, milk and juice containers

 

These holiday items are NOT recyclable and should be reused or placed in the garbage:
• Shiny metallic-coated wrapping paper
• Tissue paper
• Ribbons, bows, beads, string, garland and tinsel
• Rigid plastic packaging (used on electronics and toy packaging)
• Batteries (these items should be taken to a York Region Household Hazardous Waste Depot)
• Bubble wrap and styrofoam

 

These holiday items CAN be put in the Green Bin:
• Coffee grounds, filters and tea bags
• Paper napkins
Christmas dinner leftovers

 

Reduce your overall holiday waste with these ideas:
• Use items such as newspapers, boxes, magazines, photographs and posters to wrap gifts
• When receiving gift bags with tissue paper, save them and reuse for future occasions
• Save bubble wrap, styrofoam and boxes and reuse when packaging fragile gifts or packages to be mailed
• Send e-cards and reuse Christmas cards as gift tags
• Place a recycling bin or two in the room where presents will be opened to encourage recycling efforts
• Use reusable shopping bags, instead of receiving multiple plastic bags provided by stores
• Avoid gifts with a lot of packaging; tickets, gift cards, lessons and memberships create almost no waste

 

For more information on York Region’s recycling and waste diversion programs, please visit www.york.ca/waste

 

 

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Media Contact: Kim Sinclair, Communications Specialist, York Region
 Phone:  905 830-4444, ext. 1209 or Cell: 905 251-6412
 Email:  Kim.Sinclair@york.ca