The presents have been opened, and it’s hard to find the floor. So, now what?
Tammy Palmer, the public information officer for the Onondaga County Resource Recovery Agency, or OCRRA, said it’s time to sort.
Palmer said cardboard shipping boxes can be recycled, but get them ready first.
"Big products are impossible to get through our sorting equipment,” she said. “So, they have to be cut down to the 3 by 3. They have to be flattened. Do not tie or bundle cardboard."
Paper mailers can be recycled, but any mixed-material mailers, like paper on the outside and plastic on the inside, have to be put into the trash.
Plastic pouches cannot go into the blue bins, but they can be dropped off at any store that collects plastic grocery bags.
Palmer said some people may be tempted to put old plastic toys in the bin to make way for new toys, but it might be better to give them away to someone in need.
"Most toys are made of mixed materials,” Palmer said. “There's tons of things in there, and we don't have a way to pull apart all of those materials."
Greeting cards, envelopes, and wrapping paper can be recycled, as long as they don’t have metallic, foil, or glitter decorations on them.
Magazines and catalogs can be recycled at the curb, too.
However, be careful with Christmas lights. While some parts of them may be recyclable, OCRRA considers them to be “tanglers.”
"Imagine if you were to put those through several conveyor belts and machines that are twisting around,” said Palmer. “What's going to happen? They're going to twist around the equipment, and then they have to shut everything down and go in and pull them all out."
Don’t put strands of Christmas lights in the blue bins, but some local recyclers may accept them.
Real Christmas trees can be turned into mulch and compost. If your highway department doesn’t pick them up, Palmer said they can be dropped off at OCRRA’s Amboy or Jamesville compost sites Monday through Friday, January 2-12 from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
If you’re unsure of whether items in your home are recyclable, check out OCRRA’s online tool for more information.
