After the rush of opening gifts with friends and family has ended, the only thing left is to clean up and discard all of the ripped wrapping paper.
However, shifting through your wrapping paper scraps before tossing them in the recycling bin is important, because not all paper is recyclable.
Americans use around 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper annually, mostly during the holiday season. Around half of these millions of pounds of paper wind up in landfills, according to the Ecology Center,
Residents can choose to recycle instead of tossing out all their wrapping paper materials.
“Of all the material that is being collected, just that small fraction, actually goes to a recycler. Everything else goes to the landfill,” Polk County Commissioner, Bill Braswell, said in Feb. 2023 at a Polk County recycling changes interview.
While Polk County has 150 years of landfill space, not all Tampa counties are as fortunate. The Hillsborough Heights Solid Waste Facility landfill has been at capacity since 2015. This means Hillsborough County has accumulated more waste than it can eliminate in the past near-decade.
Danny Gallagher is Project Manager of Sustainability and Disposal Operations for the Hillsborough County Solid Waste Management Department.
“I really hope people start thinking differently when they throw things away and when they buy new things. Ask yourself, ‘how do I get rid of this thing when I’m done with it? Do I have the means to donate it, to recycle it?’” he said.
Experts say improper disposal of wrapping paper leads to more contamination in recycling processes.
Foods, liquids, wrappers, tissues, and napkins can contaminate a load. Hand-sorting the loads is ineffective at facilities, and if a truckload has contaminants, the entire load is sent to a landfill, according to the University of Washington,
Between October and December, Hillsborough County residents recycle an extra ton of scraps, so it’s crucial to understand what can be accepted and what cannot.
The City of Tampa shared:
“To stay on Santa’s nice list this year, make sure you’re recycling the following:
- Wrapping paper (paper only, no foil or glitter paper)
- Cardboard boxes (empty and flattened)
- Catalogs
- Magazines
- Paper boxes
- Paper cards and envelopes
- Plastic bottles and jugs
- Aluminum, tin and steel cans
Some items that should not go in your recycling are:
- Christmas lights (can be taken to select scrap metal recyclers)
- Garland and tinsel
- Foil wrapping paper
- Ribbons and bows
- Bubble wrap and plastic air pillows
- Foam packaging
- Plastic utensils, cups, and straws
- Paper plates
- Batteries
- Photo Paper
- Christmas trees”
A lot of wrapping paper is not recyclable since it is made of foil, or has metal, plastic, or glitter on it.
“When it comes to paper, we want traditional fiber paper because we can actually mix that all together in the pulping process, and turn that into new sheets of paper. But when you have paper that has the metallic and glitter on it, you’re contaminating the system, and you can’t make new paper from that,” Gallagher said.
However, stay clear your recycling bin of paper cards with a battery inside (that sing), photo paper, paper plates, foam packaging, and ribbons or bows.
As an alternative, gift-buyers can use reusable gift bags that will be reused for future holidays.
“When in doubt leave it out, because if you have to ask yourself ‘is this clean enough?’ or ‘does this belong in the recycling bin?’ we would rather you put it in the trashcan… then contaminating the system which might end up with the load being rejected or trashed,” Gallagher said.
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