Tips for Holiday Recycling & Reuse

• A lot of recycling depends on your location and hauler. When in doubt, check it out! Contact your city or hauler for specific instruction.
• When you are cleaning up after the holidays, make sure that the items going to your curbside recycling bin are clean, dry and loose (never bagged!). Breakdown cardboard boxes and, if you have large amounts, tie them together with string (not tape).
• Reuse bows, ribbon, bags and tissue paper.
• Wrapping paper is NOT recyclable, as it often contains foil and glitter that we don’t want in the recycling stream.
• Many communities have mulching events for real Christmas trees and often cities and haulers will pickup your real tree curbside the first couple weeks in January. Contact your city or hauler for more information and be sure to remove all lights and ornaments before any kind of disposal.
• Click here to see our list of places where you can bring your dead holidays string lights for recycling. String lights should NEVER be put in your curbside recycling bin!
• Find new homes for your decorations or unwanted gifts, either through online marketplaces or by donating them. Remember to only donate items in gently used or new condition. Click here to check out the Buy Nothing Project, an online platform that helps you share your unwanted items for free with people in your community.
• Hopefully you enjoyed all of your holiday leftovers, but if you have food that has been leftover a little too long, click here to see residential composting resources from our friends at the Minnesota Composting Council.
• Perhaps you got lucky and received new electronics over the holidays. If you are getting rid of old electronics and/or batteries, visit this page of disposal resources from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.