Household waste increases 25% between Thanksgiving and New Years — according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dan Hoornweg, an energy engineering professor at Ontario Tech University, said people should check with their local recycling policies when sorting through holiday trash. Rules vary by municipality, including what belongs in recycling bins and what should go in the trash.
Hoornweg cautioned residents to pay close attention to what they are throwing away.
"A lot of people get engaged at Christmas and a couple of times we've had to try and find a diamond ring," Hoornweg said. "Which really is a needle in a haystack in the garbage."
Here's some general rules:
Gift packaging
Hoornweg said cardboard is a major source of holiday waste, built up largely by orders from big box stores.
"The more people can squash them down and put them out either in separate bins or separately tied up, the better," he said.
That cardboard can include gift boxes and empty paper tubes of wrapping paper.
While some wrapping paper may be recyclable, multilaminate material like paper coated in metallics, wax or glitter can't be recycled. Neither can styrofoam.
Christmas trees
Many cities offer Christmas tree recycling programs. Gerald Gorman, assistant superintendent of waste reduction in Boston's Public Works Department, said trees can be chipped up and reused as mulch for gardening in the spring.
"They need to be completely free of ornaments, plastic bags, Christmas tree bases, all that type of thing," Gorman said.
Most items removed from trees should not go in recycling bins, he said.
"You can imagine Christmas tree lights getting wrapped around a conveyor belt and jamming the conveyor belt up," Gorman said. "Other things not belonging in there may cross contaminate with good recycling material."
Food waste
In many municipalities, food waste can be composted. Americans throw away 30-40% of the food supply.
Hoornweg says it's best to be proactive in addressing food waste.
"Typically as much as possible, it's avoiding the waste in the first place," Hoornweg said. "So buying a 12 pound turkey instead of 20, if that's all you need, if you're just going to throw out the rest."
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