Seasonal Sorting: How to Recycle Your Holiday Waste

Jan 3

Written by Kelly Chan, Sustainability Committee member

‘Tis the season to be sustainable! This week’s Sustainability Committee blog post dives into how to properly sort your holiday waste. Just as immense pre-planning goes into hosting a festive dinner, or giving gifts, it is never too early to start thinking about how to reduce, reuse, and (as a final resort) recycle your waste this season.

Take a guess: Which time of the year generates the most waste in Canada? Maybe you thought it was October with Halloween taking place and, consequently, all those candy wrappers. However, the correct answer is actually mid-November to mid-January; the average Canadian creates approximately twenty-five percent more waste during this time compared to any other months. To break it down, that is about fifty kilograms of waste per person in December alone!

Taking time to treat ourselves and others is important, but so is making the effort to divert our waste from landfills throughout the holidays to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, ecosystem destruction, and water and soil pollution.

Reduce and Reuse

Before even thinking of recycling, think about the two other Rs: reducing and reusing.

Not purchasing a new product initially is the best way to minimize your environmental impact and protect the planet. If you are looking for a last-minute gift idea that helps lower waste, consider offering some kind of service as a present, such as household chores or cooking.

For those who are doing their holiday shopping in-store or online, a quick moment of reflection before you pay at the checkout or click the “checkout” button can make a huge difference in the long run. One tip to be a more conscious consumer is to ask yourself: “Do I need it or do I just want it?” This simple question can help you reflect on your potential purchases and promote more mindful shopping habits. Pause before you pay!

For the items you already own, there are endless options when it comes to figuring out how to reuse, repurpose, or upcycle them. When you think an item no longer serves any purpose in your life, think about it once more! For example, if you are looking for sustainable and creative ways to wrap presents by reusing materials, check out this GSA blog post!

Recycling

As we come off of the holiday season and wrap up the year, you may have done some gift swaps and received gifts, or maybe you hosted some gatherings filled with delicious meals. If the pieces of wrapping paper and food scraps you have really reached the end of their life and can no longer be reused in any other way, do not throw these items (or any) in the garbage without considering other recycling options first. Holiday waste can get quite complex; items may not always have an obvious answer in terms of where they get disposed of. What about tissue paper with glitter? Where do gift bags that have this glossy finish go? How about flexible plastics, like chip bags?

To help guide you through sorting common types of holiday waste, take a look at the table below!

*These are general sorting guidelines for residential curbside waste collection. Different municipalities may have different disposal rules and options.

Examples of Items

Disposal Options

Paper gift wrap

Paper gift bags
Paper gift tags
Plain tissue paper
Paper greeting cards (with no plastic or decorative elements)
Clean cardboard boxes

Yellow Bag

*remove any tape, stickers, ribbons, and bows beforehand

Plastic containers, lids, bottles, and jugs

Plastic tape dispensers

Aluminum trays, plates, cans, and lids
Cookie tins
Cartons
Soup boxes
Chocolate boxes
Coffee cups and lids

Blue Box

*rinse before recycling

Fruit and vegetable peelings

Egg shells
Nuts and seeds
Coffee grounds
Soiled paper or cardboard
Soiled napkins or paper towel
Boughs of wreaths
Natural Christmas trees (option 1: remove decorations and cut the tree into small pieces – less than 10 cm in diameter and 50 cm in length – then place into the bin and ensure the lid closes)

Green Bin

*consider composting your scraps

Plastic shipping envelopes

Bubble wrap
Plastic net bags
Foam packaging
Foil gift wrap
Batteries
Flexible plastic bags
Candy wrappers
String lights
Light bulbs
Natural Christmas trees (option 2: check to see if your municipality offers Christmas tree recycling services at certain locations)