After the holidays the amount of recycling jumps with all those boxes, wrapping paper, packaging and take-out cartons. Unfortunately much of the holiday debris that is not recyclable gets mixed with the materials that are.
The result is ALL of it has to go to the landfill as fewer and fewer recyclers will accept what is considered contaminated waste paper and cardboard.
To help you do a better job of sorting and to help lower the quantity of holiday throw-aways that go to the landfill, Republic Services has published an simplified infographic to help you decided what goes in the trash and what can be recycled. Before you dump it into one of their big blue dumpsters, Check their list of Naughty and Nice:
Naughty (not recyclable)
Bubble wrap (consider reusing)
Metallic wrapping paper (consider reusing)
Ribbon and bows (consider reusing)
Sticky gift labels
Gift bags if coated, laminated, dyed
Foam peanuts
Nice (recyclable)
Gift boxes
Tissue paper
Shoe boxes
Gift bag (if paper)
Holiday cards/envelopes
Wrapping paper (non-metallic)
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