During the holiday season, Americans throw away more material than at any other time of the year. According the EPA, the volume of household waste in the United States generally increases 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Years day, approximately one million extra tons. With more recycling choices available in Santa Rosa County than ever before, you can make the holiday season the season of recycling. Citizens can recycle glass, metal, plastic containers, paper and cardboard with curbside collections by their residential garbage collection service, hauling the items to the Central Landfill or Gulf Breeze and Jay transfer stations, or by taking items to one of the 19 recycling drop off sites located throughout the county. Our recycle contractor will be servicing the containers quickly and often, but usage will be extremely high after Christmas. When using the recycling drop of sites, be sure to deposit only recyclable materials and place your items in the containers. Holiday Recyclables – Reuse or Recycle! • Cardboard gift boxes, shipping or product boxes – Please break down and flatten all boxes. This helps to save space and reduces container overflow. • Paper shopping bags • Wrapping paper • Greeting cards • Catalogs & junk mail • Aluminum cans, foil, pie tins, cake tins and empty aerosol cans • Plastic containers Not Recyclable – Reuse or Place in Household Garbage • Metallic, glittery wrapping paper, bows & ribbon • Styrofoam • Christmas lights • Disposable plates, cups & silverware • Plastic shopping bags (Can be recycled at many grocery stores) • Balloons, chip bags, and candy bags made of Mylar • Do not put food waste or other household garbage in the recycle containers.
Tree Recycling Live Christmas trees can be dropped off until Jan. 31 at five county recycling areas. The trees will be chipped and offered as free mulch at Clean Community System in Milton at a later date to be announced. When dropping off trees, please place the trees in the designated area identified by signage. Do not place trees in front of the recycling containers. Trees can be disposed at (Maps available online at http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/recycle ): • Clean Community System/Green-Up Nursery, 6758 Park Ave., Milton • Jay Transfer Station, Transfer Station Road, Jay • Five Points Recycle Area, Chumuckla Hwy., Pace • Navarre Beach Boat Ramp Parking Lot Recycle Area, Gulf Boulevard., Navarre Beach • Tiger Point Recreation Area in Gulf Breeze, east of Walmart Residents are reminded that recycle areas are not disposal areas for furniture or household garbage that is not sorted, recyclable material. Please do not dispose of carpet, furniture, toilets, sinks, vinyl flooring, or wicker furniture in the recycle bins. Not only can people be fined for illegal dumping, it can cause the site to be closed or relocated, which can be a great inconvenience to those that are using the site as intended. The removal of materials out of the recycle containers such as aluminum cans, plastics or other items is also illegal. This material is property of the county’s recycle contractor. A list of all Santa Rosa County recycling points and acceptable materials can also be found on the county’s website at www.santarosa.fl.gov/recycle. Questions? Contact the Santa Rosa County Environmental Department at 981-7135.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Holiday Recycling