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Holiday cleanup: Here’s what you can – and can’t – recycle in B.C.

‘Alexa, please take down the decorations’
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Most store-bought gift wrap cannot be recycled and ends up in the landfill. The Recycling Council of BC recommends using reusable or recyclable options decorated with natural items such as twine, pine cones or pressed flowers. (Pixabay)

The gifts have been unwrapped, the cards opened and the stockings emptied – and what’s left is a big mess of wrapping paper, cardboard boxes and packaging from Christmas dinner, all for you to sort through and dispose of.

Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as saying, “Alexa, please take down the decorations” when it comes to the post-holiday cleanup. But, as people across the province work to return their homes to normal, Recycle BC is offering up a number of tips on how to ace an environmentally friendly disposal.

Coffee cups, plastic trays, greeting cards and paper bags are all 100 per cent recyclable, the association said, as well as metal tins, foil trays and cartons.

Gift wrap made completely of paper can also be recycled, but foil-made wrapping must be thrown in the garbage or reused.

ALSO READ: B.C. Return-It doubles recycling deposits for pop cans, juice boxes

Meanwhile, bubble wrap, plastic candy wrappers, foam packaging and plastic bags must all be taken to a Recycle BC depot or London Drugs to be organized.

As for pop cans – this marks the first holiday since the deposit for cans and bottles increased from five cents to 10, and can be dropped off at the nearest Return-It bottle depot.

Have a real Christmas tree? Find a local organization hosting tree-chipping, as it usually benefits a youth-related group, or simply throw it in the backyard to serve as a refuge for wildlife.

ALSO READ: Potato chip bags, plastic pouches now accepted in new Recycle B.C. program

– with a file from Kendra Crighton, Victoria News


@ashwadhwani
ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

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About the Author: Ashley Wadhwani-Smith

I began my journalistic journey at Black Press Media as a community reporter in my hometown of Maple Ridge, B.C.
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