EAST GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Kent County Department of Public Works has released its annual Holiday Recycling Guide to help residents reduce waste and increase recycling during the holiday season.
During the holidays, household waste in the United States increases by 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That's about 1 million extra tons of waste being thrown away in landfills.
"Our landfill is experiencing more influx of material, as well as our transfer station and our waste energy facility," said Micah Herrboldt, waste reduction educator for the Kent County Department of Public Works.
"Our Holiday Recycling Guide is a great resource for residents to use so we can all work together to keep unnecessary waste out of our landfills," Herrboldt said. "Before throwing items in the trash, we encourage our community to check our Holiday Recycling Guide or online Recycling & Waste Directory to see if items can be recycled."
Holiday Items Requiring Special Handling
The guide provides information on recycling and waste disposal for everything from glass bottles and toy packaging to wrapping paper and holiday string lights.
"Their holiday lights do have recyclability, but they can't go into their curbside bin or any of our drop-off sites for the single stream recyclables," Herrboldt said. "They have to get taken to a special electronics or scrap metal drop-off site."
Holiday lights can be recycled only at special collection drop-offs at the DPW's North Kent Recycling & Waste Center, South Kent Recycling & Waste Center or the SafeChem drop-off location in Grand Rapids. If they end up at the county's sorting facility, they tangle up in machines and cause problems.
Plastic Bags Top Problem List
The number one problem at drop-off sites is plastic bags.
"Although the plastic itself might be recyclable if you drop it off at a special site, like a grocery store. If it comes here, it's similar to those string lights. It'll get tangled up in the machines," Herrboldt said.
Foam plastic, such as Styrofoam, and flexible plastic, like bubble wrap or shopping envelopes, can only be recycled at special drop-off locations.
Holiday Decorations Need Alternative Disposal
Many holiday decorations require special disposal methods.
"Like garland, whether it's fake or real, wreaths, even Christmas trees, people see the metal parts or the plastic parts in them, and they think they're recyclable," Herrboldt said.
Artificial trees, wreaths and garland are not recyclable but can be reused or donated. Live trees are compostable through many area compost and yard waste services.
Traditional gift wrap and gift bags are not recyclable due to glitter and heavy inks and dyes. The same goes for wrapping paper that may have tinsel or heavy dyes in it.
Battery Disposal Critical for Safety
Residents need to be especially careful with batteries, which could cause fires when not disposed of properly.
"We have five drop-off sites for household hazardous waste," Herrboldt said. "They're called Safe Chem drop off sites. The one that has the most consistent hours is right here at our administrative building, here at 1045 Wealthy Street."
Lithium-ion, rechargeable and button batteries should be brought to one of the DPW's SafeChem drop-off locations. These materials pose a fire risk during transportation and at the DPW's recycling facility.
Other Holiday Items Requiring Special Handling
Toys, holiday sweaters and decorations are often made of fabrics or too many different materials to be recycled. The DPW encourages donating, repurposing or re-gifting these items instead.
Frying oil from holiday cooking should never be dumped down the drain or tossed in the trash. Oil can be brought to one of the DPW's SafeChem drop-off locations so it can be made into biofuel.
Curbside Recycling Acceptable Items
The Holiday Recycling Guide details which items are appropriate to place in a curbside recycling bin, such as glass bottles and jars, hard or rigid plastics, cartons, cardboard, paper cups, metal cans and foil.
Planning Ahead Recommended
Herrboldt recommends researching before shopping.
"If people can use that guide before going out and doing their shopping, then they can maybe make more informed decisions about what they're purchasing," he said.
Information about all recyclable materials can be found by searching the DPW's online Recycling & Waste Directory.
To see Kent County's holiday recycling guide, click here.
WATCH THE VIDEO STORY
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
