Once you've opened all your Christmas gifts, remember that you can recycle the mountains of gift wrap and tissue paper that remain - and if you have a live Christmas tree, that can be recycled, as well.
Bobby Purdum, Superintendent of Hall County Resource Recovery, said in a recent interview on WDUN's Afternoon News Wrap that there's no need to toss the used gift wrap in the garbage.
"All the wrapping paper is actually recyclable," Purdum said. "We have blue bins at all the compactor sites and we have blue bins at the Recycle Center [on Chestnut Street in Gainesville] that will accept any mixed fibers. We're talking about any kind of cardboard or newsprint or wrapping paper."
Purdum said the amount of trash one person generates is a bit mind-boggling and at least 65% of the trash is paper.
"The average person throws away four-and-a-half to five pounds of trash a day, so if you're throwing away paper, you're throwing away something that's highly recyclable," Purdum said.
Purdum said in Hall County alone, the Recycle Center takes in 8,800 tons of paper for recycling purposes, but he says that's only a small portion of what they could be doing. He says the national recycle rate is just 34%; increasing that amount would mean a longer life for landfills and, ultimately, savings for residents.
In addition to asking residents to recycle their used wrapping products, Purdum said Hall County is once again participating in the "Bring One for the Chipper" event this year.
Hall County's 12 compactor sites and the Recycling Center will accept live Christmas trees from Dec. 26 to Jan. 7.
"Those trees, in turn, get chipped back up and stored at the landfill and those chippings are turned into mulch and [people] can come and get those for free," Purdum said.
The free mulch is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., weather permitting.
Purdum said all decorations need to be removed from the trees before they are dropped off. He emphasized that recycling is for cut, live trees only.
The following sites are accepting trees for recycling:
- Candler Compactor - 5064 Poplar Springs Rd. Gainesville, Ga 30507
- Murrayville Compactor - 5113 Thompson Bridge Road, Gainesville, GA 30506
- Lula Compactor - 6174 Lula Road, Lula, GA 30554
- Wauka Mountain Compactor - 5800 Brookton-Lula Road, Gainesville, GA 30506-2909
- Sardis Road Compactor - 3166 Brackett Drive Gainesville, GA 30506
- East Crescent Drive Compactor - 734 East Crescent Drive, Gainesville, GA 30501
- Gould Lane Compactor - 1277 Hillside Gardens Lane, Gainesville, GA 30504
- Tadmore Compactor - 3320 Holly Springs Road, Gainesville, GA 30507
- Balus Creek Compactor - 3845 Old Flowery Branch Road, Flowery Branch, GA 30566
- Blackshear Place Compactor - 2921 Atlanta Highway Gainesville, GA 30507
- Flowery Branch Compactor- 4395 Falcon Parkway Flowery Branch, GA 30542
- Gaines Ferry Compactor - 6173 Gaines Ferry Road Flowery Branch, GA 30542
City of Gainesville residents can leave their trees curbside for pick-up, and Oakwood residents can drop their trees at the corner of Allen and Railroad streets.
"Bring One for the Chipper" is sponsored statewide by the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation.
