TOTES, TRIM AND HOLIDAY TRASH!
Tips for recycling and reusing by-products of the season

COLUMBUS, OH -- Between Thanksgiving and New Year's, Ohioans and their fellow Americans traditionally put 25 percent more trash at their curbs - mostly wrapping paper, ribbons, party decorations and mail-order catalogues - all by-products of the holiday season.

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), Americans generate about 5,000,000 tons of trash during the week following Christmas alone.

ODNR offers these tips for lightening the trash collector's load in coming weeks:

• Take Your Own Tote When Shopping
  Take a tote bag when shopping for the holidays to avoid bringing home an armload of plastic or paper sacks. 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 gift-wrap made from 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, and best of all, they can be used over and over again if folded and stored 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. The fronts of Christmas cards can also be sent to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, 100 St. Jude's St., Boulder City, Nevada 89005-1618 for recycling. There the children glue the used card fronts to pre-printed card stock to create new cards for the coming season.
• Remove Your Name From Unwanted Catalogue Lists
  The average American home receives more than 200 mail order catalogues each year. Most of these catalogues arrive just before the holidays. Call the toll-free number listed in the catalogues to ask that your name be removed from mailing lists. Also write to the Direct Marketing Association at P.O. Box 9008, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735-9008 to request that your name be removed from third-class mailing lists.