What to do with all that holiday waste

Recycle BC’s Ann Goulding stops by Your Morning Vancouver to give some holiday waste recycling tips.

From wrapping paper and ribbons to boxes and bags, the holiday celebrations leave behind a lot of waste. But the good news is, almost all of it can be recycled.

Ann Goulding with Recycle BC spoke with CTV Your Morning Vancouver to share tips on how to stay off the naughty list when it comes to garbage this season.

“There’s a lot of packaging and paper generated during the holidays. People are entertaining, they’re unwrapping gifts, and so we want to make sure that we keep as much of those items out of the landfill as possible,” she said.

Most wrapping paper is recyclable, even if it has glitter on it. Same goes for gift bags. Foil-lined wrapping paper, however, cannot go in the bin.

Before recycling wrapping paper and bags, Goulding reminds people to remove any ribbons, bows, handles and other non-paper decorations.

Greeting cards are also fine for paper recycling, but if it’s a singing card make sure to remove the battery first.

The plastic windows on many toy boxes can go in the blue bin, as can tape dispensers.

When it comes to holiday mealtime, Goulding says aluminum pie tins and casserole dishes, metal cookie tins, red solo cups and hard plastic containers can all get recycled—just give them a rinse first.

“You want to make sure there’s not big chunks of food on there. It doesn’t have to be spotless, just a little bit of a rinse,” she said.

Some items you may think are garbage can actually be recycled but need to be brought to the depot. Those include bubble wrap, chip bags and fruit and vegetable netting.

“One thing I like to do is, I like to set up a recycling station,” Goulding said. “In your home especially where you’re unwrapping gifts, you set up a big paper bag, and you put all your greeting cards or your wrapping in there. Then you do a box for all your containers…and maybe a clear bag for your depot-only items.”

More information on what can and cannot be recycled can be found on the Recycle BC website.