Sedona Recycles News Archive

‘Tis the holiday season. Every year we spend the month leading up to Christmas buying gifts for our friends and loved ones. We might even indulge in the season’s low prices and by a few new items for our own homes.

With all this spending comes a lot of waste. Each year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, household waste in the US increases 25% - about one million tons. Countless cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, holiday cards, and wrapping paper are sent to landfills across the country. How can we reduce our holiday footprint?

Give the gift of trash

While we give and receive gifts of new cell phones, iPods, clothing, TVs, and toys, we often forget that many people can’t afford simple necessities, let alone gifts. Instead of throwing your outdated or unwanted items away, consider donating them to the numerous thrift stores in Sedona and the Verde Valley.

Thrift stores provide more than just low cost items for those in need; they support nonprofits like the Humane Society of Sedona, Verde Valley Sanctuary, Verde Valley Caregivers, Old Town Mission, and more. A simple donation of old clothing makes a huge difference in our community.

What if you have something that is broken or used beyond repair? Old clothing and fabric goods can be taken to Savers in Flagstaff and recycled into rags for resale or for making woven rag rugs. Plastic toys can usually be recycled with your other household plastics. Electronics, ranging from cell phones to TVs and VHS tapes to computers, can be recycled at Sedona Recycles for a small fee. Many of these items are repaired and donated to schools in Mexico.

All these donations, from used clothes to broken electronics, are considered tax-deductible and can cut you a break on your taxes. Now that’s a gift that keeps on giving!

Another way to reduce waste during the holiday season is to give gifts made from recycled items. Developmentally disabled adults at local nonprofit Rainbow Acres make rugs out of old denim and cloth that is worn out. YAVA Glass makes drinking glasses, coasters, and spoon rests out of recycled glass bottles, many of them collected here at the recycling center! Gifts like these are not only attractive and useful; they help local businesses and the planet.

Save it for later

Once the presents have been opened and the holiday lights burned out, what do you do? You’re likely to have a bag full of wrapping paper, a stack of boxes, a tangle of ribbons, and one big tree. Here’s how to responsibly clean up after the presents are unwrapped.

Boxes   Cardboard boxes are the most reused and recycled items in our waste stream. More than 75% of cardboard is recycled in the US and much of it has been around the block a few times before it ends up the recycling center. Save some or all of your boxes for the next holiday season and any birthdays or holidays in between, and recycle the rest.

Gift Wrap   Wrapping paper cannot be recycled with any local recycling center or curbside provider. Doug McLeod, director of the local paper mill in Snowflake, which recycles most paper in Arizona, says that wrapping paper cannot be recycled due to the protective coatings, metallics, and other embellishments added to the paper.

So what can you do with your used wrapping paper? Save what you can for next year or, better yet, make your own wrapping paper! Brown paper bags can be decorated with festive stamps. Newspaper always makes a great recyclable wrapper, and you can feel good because all local newspapers are printed on 100% recycled newsprint from the Snowflake Mill.

Ribbon and Gift Bags   Every year we throw out 38,000 miles of ribbon - enough to tie a bow around the Earth! Ribbon is one of the easiest (and prettiest) of our holiday waste to save. Along with gift bags, ribbons can be reused over and over in the cycle of giving.

Packing Supplies   Other remnants from gift packaging can be recycled or reused as well. Plastic bags that commonly surround new electronics can be recycled along with your grocery bags at local grocery stores. Packing peanuts, bubble wrap, and other packing supplies can be reused at home or you can bring them to Sedona Recycles for others to reuse.

Holiday Cards   Holiday cards bring lots of cheer and, subsequently, lots of waste. Each year 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold in the US, enough to fill a football stadium ten stories high. Next year consider sending e-cards to friends and family so you can deliver tidings of joy without creating waste. What about the cards you receive? Save them for next year and make them into gift tags or tree decorations, and be sure to recycle them in the end.

Christmas Trees   Come January 1, you’ll probably be ready to take down your Christmas tree and other decorations. The City of Sedona will provide cut Christmas tree recycling beginning on December 26. Trees can be dropped off in the empty lot at the corner of 89A and Saddlerock Circle, where they will be made into mulch at the end of January.

Holiday Lights   Spent holiday lights usually get thrown in the garbage, but these too can be recycled. Send your broken lights to Christmas Light Source Recycling Program, 1923 6th Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76110, and all the glass, plastic, and copper components will be recycled in the US. Include your contact information and you’ll receive an email with a 10% coupon off your next purchase of holiday lights! Better yet, all proceeds from the recycling of your lights are donated to buy books for Toys for Tots.

Together we can make the holidays brighter and cleaner for everyone. By giving, saving, and recycling valuable items we can help each other and the environment and show the true spirit of Christmas.