The holiday season can result in increased amounts of waste, and Airdrie’s Waste and Recycling department has several tips for how to dispose of that material.
“Use your bins to their full capacity and have a safe holiday season,” said Susan Grimm, team leader with Waste and Recycling Services
As families unwrap gifts on Christmas, Grimm said most boxes and wrapping paper can go directly into the blue bins for curbside recycling. Ribbons and bows should be disposed of in the garbage, she said, or better yet, saved and reused. As for plastics, anything with a recycling symbol can also go in the recycling bins, but Grimm noted many plastics used for packaging won’t meet that criteria.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the plastics that we’re dealing with on the packaging at Christmastime are going to be garbage,” she said. “Just watch for those symbols.”
Dead batteries, meanwhile, are best taken to the Eastside Recycle Depot. Packing Styrofoam does not belong in the blue cart, but Airdrie is one of the few municipalities that can accept packing Styrofoam at the recycle depot. Packing peanuts and food-grade Styrofoam, however, must be tossed in the garbage.
When it comes to holiday feasts, food waste can be tossed in the green bins, as can soiled napkins and some paper plates, depending on the material they’re made from.
“We do caution people, with things that are labelled ‘compostable foodware’ – the are not accepted in our program in the green bin,” Grimm said. “They just don’t break down in the process that we have, so those are considered garbage or single-use plastics.”
Plastic utensils and plates, meanwhile, are too light to be sorted in the recycling program, and must be thrown out, or washed and used again.
Any broken decorations, Grimm noted, are garbage material. When it comes to decorations that are simply unwanted, she suggested keeping them out of the landfill by donating them.
Burned out Christmas light can be taken directly to the recycle depot, as can their cords, which can be dropped off at the depot’s electronics area.
In general, Grimm said resident should look for ways to reuse or donate items that could still be useful, rather than throwing them out.
Another issue Waste and Recycling often faces during the holiday season is over-filled carts. Grimm reminds residents that carts won’t be collected if their lids are left open.
“The reason behind that is an open lid allows rain and snow and other materials in to the bins. And once that material is wet, it contaminates the entire load,” she said. “We also don’t accept any material left beside the bins.”
Instead, Grimm said, the recycle depot will be open on Boxing Day to accept any excess recycling that needs to be disposed of. Residents can expect closures at the depot on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Depending on their regular collection days, some residents may also experience disruptions to waste collection over the holidays, as well.
“If you normally get collected on Wednesday for any of your streams – garbage, organics or recycling – it’ll move to the following business day,” Grimm said. “We’re doing double collection Thursday.”
With the added collections, Grimm emphasized it will be especially important to have bins and garbage bags at the curb by 7 a.m.
More tips are available by searching “Holiday Waste” on airdrie.ca
