The holidays are a great time to recycle, because Americans
throw away 25 percent more trash than other times of the year. Some of that
trash can be recycled. Consider recycling the following items this season:
Holiday Lights
Do you have strings of holiday lights that no
longer work? Perhaps you’re switching to energy efficient LED lights this year.
Recycle holiday lights and old electrical cords by dropping them off inside Arden
Hills City Hall in our collection bin at 1245 Highway 96 W. during business hours, or by bringing them to
Ramsey County’s household hazardous waste collection site at 5 Empire Drive,
St. Paul.
Live Christmas Tree
Keep your tree out of landfills by
bringing it to any Ramsey County yard waste collection site where it will be
mulched. Please remove all decorations, wire, lights and tinsel. Flocked trees
are not accepted and may be placed in the trash. The Arden Hills yard waste
site is located at 3530 Hudson Avenue and is open Saturdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00
p.m. and Sundays 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. from December through March.
Leftovers
If you anticipate leftovers, ask your guests to
bring their own leftover containers so everyone can enjoy leftovers and limit
food waste.
Food Scraps
Get started with food scraps (organics
recycling) and bring to your scraps to your local collection site at the Arden
Hills Yard Waste Site, 3530 Hudson Avenue.
Wrapping Paper
Most mass-produced wrapping paper you find in
stores is not recyclable because of the shiny coatings, foils and colors, and
therefore needs to be thrown away. Try these wrapping alternatives: newspaper,
tin cans or jars, paper grocery bags, fabric scraps, scarves, maps or even
pillow cases.
Gifts
The best gifts are experiences: tickets to a sports
game, trips to a zoo, lessons of some type, transit passes or even a homemade
dinner.
