Holiday Recycling Tips

As we kick-off the holidays, it’s important to keep the environment in mind. Whether you’re attending holiday parties or shopping for presents, here’s a list of ways to be more eco-friendly this season.

Choose Reusable

• Choose items that can be reused over and over as opposed to single-use plastics. If you’re hosting a holiday party, use real dishes and cutlery. It may take longer to clean-up, but you’re doing the environment a favour in the long-run. You can also use real baking dishes when baking hot foods instead of using aluminum foil pie plates and trays, which are single-use.

Excess Packaging

• There is going to be a lot of packaging over the holiday season. To start, recycle the accepted materials in the blue bin. Our recycling guides are available to download and print if you need a refresher.
• When it comes to wrapping your gifts, think of a reusable option to cut back on waste. Wrapping paper and cellophane are not accepted in your blue bin. Try wrapping your gifts in a recyclable option, such as newspaper or craft paper. Or put your gifts in a reusable bag that they can use in the future.

Holiday Decorations

• If you’re decorating your home for the holidays, reuse decorations from previous years instead of buying new ones. If you are purchasing decorations, look at a thrift store for gently used items. You might be able to find something unique!

Christmas Tree Recycling

• Many municipalities offer a Christmas tree recycling program for their residents. If you have a real tree, bring it to your local depot for recycling. Reach out to your local municipality for details.

Here’s a list of common items that you’ll find around the holidays, and what you should do with them.

• Aluminum foil, Pie Plates and Trays: Garbage.
• Bows and Ribbon: Reuse if possible, otherwise garbage.
• Blister packaging: These are hard to open containers you’ll find consumer products in. These are accepted in your blue bin.
• Cardboard: Recycle in your blue bin. Flatten boxes to save space for other recyclables.
• Cellophane: Garbage.
• Christmas trees and Wreaths (real): Most municipalities run a Christmas tree recycling program for residents. Contact your municipality for details.
• Christmas trees and Wreaths (artificial): Reuse or donate.
• Decorations: Reuse or donate.
• Foam packaging (Styrofoam): Garbage.
• Gift bags (mesh): Reuse
• Gift bags (cloth): Reuse or donate to a secondhand store.
• Gift bags (paper): Recycle in your blue bin or reuse.
• Gift boxes: Recycle in your blue bin or reuse.
• Gift tags (paper): Recycle in your blue bin.
• Greeting cards: Recycle in your blue bin.
• Lights: Reuse or donate.
• Plastic cards (i.e. Gift cards): Garbage.
• Plastic cutlery and Plates: Garbage.
• Tinsel: Garbage.
• Wrapping paper (from a tree): This is also known as craft paper. Recycle this in your blue bin.
• Wrapping paper (with dyes, glitter or foil): Reuse if possible, otherwise garbage.