So it’s the day after Christmas and most people’s bellies Landscaping Idea
Across the country, over-sized plastic garbage bags are stuffed with crumbled wrapping paper and ribbons and gift boxes are flattened and piled on the doorstep. There are also the discarded juice cans and turkey bones and aluminum pie tins, and the empty wine bottles, dead batteries, and old toaster oven that is no longer needed because Santa brought a new one.
What a heap of garbage.
Did you know that between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day Americans throw away 25 percent more trash than during any other time of the year? So reducing waste is especially important during the holiday season.
Recycling is critical. If you’re not already removing certain items from your garbage can, educate yourself on what can be separated and start complying. Nearly every town in the state has a Web site with instructions for recycling.
Typically clean glass and metal food containers, plastic containers, aluminum cans, foil and pie plates, newspapers, magazines and office paper and flattened corrugated cardboard are recyclable.
But even before recycling, start to think green. Save the holiday cards you receive this year and reuse them as gift tags next year. And rather than purchase wrapping paper, reuse brown paper bags and decorate them yourself. Or slip that pair of earrings for Aunt Sally into the mittens you bought her and tie them up with a ribbon.
In the new year, vow to stop using plastic grocery bags and treat yourself to the new sturdy and easy-to-handle reusable “green bags†that most grocers now sell.
Another idea, whenever possible, is to buy rechargeable batteries and a charger for electronics. About 40 percent of all battery sales occur during the December holiday season, and spent batteries, with their potentially harmful materials, end up in landfills and incinerators Landscaping Idea
And anyone with a live Christmas tree — it’s estimated that 33 million were sold in North America this season — should consider recycling it Landscaping Idea. Make sure to remove all lights, decorations and tinsel and for a time, at least, prop it in your yard to admire. The birds will enjoy it, too.
If it goes to a landfill, try to get it to one that mulches trees and uses the chippings for hiking trails or landscaping. And next year, consider buying a potted tree that you can plant after the holidays. It’s easy to winter-over the potted tree in a big pile of raked-up leaves.
Unfortunately, Americans are at the top of the list for trash-generators. By some estimates Landscaping Idea, each American produces about 4 pounds of trash daily, which collectively translates to about 210 million tons per year. And remember, we’re making even more trash at the holidays.
Some of it does get recycled. But most of it ends up in landfills or, as in Connecticut, Landscaping Idea is burned in incinerators.
So now, as the post-holiday cleanup begins, it’s time to think seriously about recycling and reusing and start planning for next year.
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