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Recycling Christmas: Keep wrapping paper and trees out of landfills
• Holiday-related materials can be reused or recycled
Monday,
December 19, 2011
Every year tons of discarded holiday wrapping paper and trees needlessly make it to county landfills. Much of it can either be reused or recycled, saving Mother Nature countless ‘hundreds of years’ trying to break this stuff down.
Let’s work together to reduce this year’s holiday carbon footprint.
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The Broward County Parks and Recreation Division is committed to recycling through its annual Chip-A-Tree program. The initiative allows Broward County residents to bring holiday trees to a park, where they will be chipped and used for landscaping throughout the park system.
Approximately 7,613 trees were loaded into cars and brought to the parks for mulching last year. Markham Park had the most dropped off with a number of 1,400. Instead of tossing their trees in the trash, environmentally-conscious park patrons saved 95 tons from the waste stream. It costs nothing to drop off your tree.
This year’s program begins on December 26, 2011 and ends January 22, 2012. Locations include:
Fern Forest Nature Center – 201 Lyons Rd. South, Coconut Creek – closed Tues. & Weds.
Tradewinds Park 3600 W. Sample Rd., Coconut Creek – open 7 days.
All sites will be closed - no trees accepted - on January 1 and 16.
RULES:
Drop trees off between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on days parks are open.
Remove ALL decorations, wires, plastic, tree stands, etc.
NO TRUCKLOADS of trees. Personal vehicles only.
Artificial trees not accepted.
All sites closed no trees accepted on January 1 and 17.
This program is open to residents of Broward County. There is no fee and the parks' regular weekend and holiday gate entrance fee of $1.50/person (children 5 and under free) will not be charged for those just dropping off their trees for recycling. For more information, call 954-357-8177 or email parksmarketing@broward.org
What else is Recyclable?
Wrapping paper and the tubes it comes in are recyclable - so put them in your curbside bins for pickup.
Tissue paper isn’t recyclable because it doesn't contain enough fibrous substance, but it can be straightened and used again and again. The same goes for gift bags, which are often too beautiful to throw away. Some gift bags over time become collectibles.
Metallic wrapping paper is also non-recyclable.
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