Some of you have already tidied up the trimmings, but many of us have the paper, the bows and the boxes strewn about for a few days - some of us celebrated a few weeks ago and others are celebrating Kwanzaa this week. And some of our neighbors will celebrate a bit after the new year.
Wherever you are in your seasonal celebrations, these reuse/upcycling/recycling tips might be useful.
- Christmas trees can be recycled at various locations in the City or the County. There is no curbside recycling; trees at the curb will go to the landfill. Please call your municipality for exact information.
- Christmas lights can be recycled at eLoop through Construction Junction in Point Breeze.
- Wrapping paper can be reused to wash windows (like newspaper) or used for crafts.
- Cards, wrapping paper, gift bags, and calendars can be included with paper and magazines in recycling. If you have single stream recycling, include in your blue bags with the other items. If not, you can take your items to Construction Junction or other recycling centers. **Be sure to remove the fancy parts and the bits of tape.
- Candy canes can be turned into delicious peppermint sugar - think a lovely cup of coffee on a snowy day.
- Other reuse ideas - bows turned into new bows, gift bags turned into book covers or scrap book pages.
- There are nearly 90 locations to take your plastic bags - this includes inserts from shipments (pop the bag & be sure there is a recycling logo), plastic wrap from shirts and other garments and even the plastic bag your candy was in before it hit the stockings.
- Zippered bags used to pack sheets and sweaters can be passed along to our project - we use them to store certain tote bags between displays.
- Other items such as decorations, gently used items that have been replaced with new gifts can be donated to a thrift store including the East End Thrift Store which is also a project of The Thomas Merton Center.
For other recycling tips, visit Earth911.com and use the search engine. For more reuse suggestions, visit Pinterest and be enchanted.
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The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project collects new and gently used tote bags for distribution to the region's food pantries. We are a project of the Thomas Merton Center. Visit our website for a list of permanent drop-off spots, information on how to organize your own tote bag drive and details on our partnerships with corporations and promotional products items. You can also follow us on Twitter@Tote4Pgh and Facebook.com/Tote4pgh
