After all your holiday gifts have been opened and the tree is starting to droop, its time to consider what to do with the debris of the season.
Bell: “Stop before you throw it all in the recycle bin.”
Kelly Bell is Lane County Master Recycling Coordinator. She says Oregonians really like to recycle. The state has a 50 percent recycling rate, which is better than the national rate. But the problem is that people tend to put things in the recycle bin that don’t belong in it. One example during the holidays is burnt out Christmas lights. Bell says to take them to an electronics recycler like Eugene’s Next Step.
“I was just there a couple of days ago and what they’d already collected this year, just so far now in the month of December, was over $900, based on the scrap value for Christmas lights that they have been donated so far.”
Next Step is giving the money it generates from holiday light recycling to Josea, a drop-in center for homeless youth. Bell says many waste companies have smart phone apps that tell you what can and cannot be recycled curbside. Many local charities will pick up and dispose of Christmas trees for a fee.
