With the holidays over and the New Year begun, many of us are looking to clean house, which at this time of year means getting rid of Christmas trees and wrapping paper and clearing out the old electronics—televisions, computers, gaming consoles, phones—that were replaced with new ones. Here's how to handle your old stuff in a greener way:
Wrapping paper and cards
Any wrapping paper, cards and bubble wrap can be put into your Blue Cart to be recycled.
Old Christmas Trees
If you had a real Christmas tree, remember to remove all decorations and tinsel and don't wrap the tree in plastic before recycling. Then you have two options to take part in the City of Calgary Christmas Tree Recycling Program:
For pick-up
Have your tree out beside your City of Calgary Black Cart by 7:00 a.m., Tuesday, January 8, 2013 and your tree will be picked up within three weeks.
For drop-off
If you've missed the pick-up in your community, you can drop your trees off at one of the eight temporary Christmas tree drop-off locations until January 27, 2013:
Note that Christmas trees cannot be put into your Blue Cart (even if they're cut into pieces).
Christmas trees that are part of the recycling program (40,000 last year) are saved from the landfills and turned into mulch (that you can go pick up for free to use in your own garden!)
Used Electronics
If you have electronics that are in good working condition, you may be able to donate them (contact the Electronics Recycling Association) or sell them (or give them away) on Kijiji. Otherwise, certain electronics can be dropped off, at no cost, at any of the City of Calgary's electronics recycling locations.
Examples of the types of electronics that are accepted for recycling include:
- TVs (all sizes)
- Laptops
- Desktop computers
- Printers
- Computer monitors (some restrictions apply)