COLUMBUS, OH - Between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, Ohioans and their fellow Americans traditionally leave 25 percent more trash at their curbs - mostly wrapping paper, ribbons, party decorations and mail order catalogues that are the by-products of the holiday season. According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Americans generate about 5 million tons of trash during the week following Christmas alone.
ODNR offers these tips for lightening the trash collector's load in coming weeks, including ways to recycle Christmas cards and live cut trees:
Take Your Own Tote When Shopping
Take a tote bag when shopping for great after-Christmas sales and avoid bringing home an armload of plastic or paper sacks. Or, consolidate purchases into one large bag for convenient carrying.
Avoid Glossy Foil Wraps
Foil wrapping paper may be attractive, but it cannot be recycled. It's environmentally sensible to buy wrap made of recycled paper. Or, avoid using commercial paper and substitute sheets of Sunday comics or glossy magazine pages to wrap packages. Cheery holiday gift bags are increasingly popular. Best of all, they can be used over and over again if they are folded and stored neatly from season to season.
Recycle Christmas Cards For Next Year
Cut the fronts off this year's Christmas cards to reuse as holiday "postcards" next season. Postcards take up less room in mailbags and are far less expensive to mail. Or, send the fronts of Christmas cards to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, 100 St. Jude's St., Boulder City, Nevada 89005-1618 for recycling.
Remove Your Name From Unwanted Catalogue Lists
The average American home receives more than 200 mail order catalogues each year- mostly at holiday time. Call the toll free number of catalogues that you no longer want and ask that your name be removed from mailing lists. Or, write to the Direct Marketing Association at P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735-9008 to have your name removed from third-class mailing lists.
Oh! Christmas Tree
Live cut Christmas trees may be recycled in a variety of environmentally friendly ways. Recycling Christmas trees into landscape mulch, compost or wildlife habitat prolongs their usefulness beyond the tinsel and trim. Many Ohio communities offer curbside pick up for discarded trees or convenient drop off locations. In some areas, trees can be returned to commercial Christmas tree lots for recycling.
Trees can be chipped and placed in backyard composting systems or used to build brush pile "homes" for Ohio's native mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles. When weighted and submerged in farm ponds, Christmas trees increase fish and amphibian habitat. People wanting to dispose of trees in an eco-friendly manner should contact local conservation and wildlife clubs that might be sponsoring collection activities.
Remove all trimmings before disposing of trees, and remember to seek permission before discarding trees on private land or in private ponds. Check with officials before dropping trees at a park or lake. Discarding trees without permission could draw a littering charge.
Avoid burning Christmas trees in home fireplaces or wood stoves since evergreen wood contributes to creosote buildup in chimneys and may prove a fire hazard.