Holiday Tree & Waste Reduction

Giving gifts for a birthday or anniversary? Celebrating a special event or a holiday? Having a party just because you want to? Give a special gift to the community and the environment by reducing and recycling the resulting waste. It's easy!

• Wrap gifts in colorful comics, old maps or other colorful paper materials normally found around the home or office.
• Or, instead of wrapping gifts in paper, try presenting them in reusable containers like tin or plastic holiday boxes, gift bags or baskets.
• Buy gift wrap that contains recycled paper.
• Avoid foil gift wrap, which is not recyclable.
• Recycle wrapping paper (except foil) with mixed paper in the City's curbside recycling program.
• Make gift tags from old greeting cards.
• Use cloth napkins, metal flatware, china plates and real glasses for "waste-less" holiday parties and meals.
• The City provides a service of picking up used holiday trees. Just set your holiday trees out on your regular curbside solid waste collection day during the first full (Monday through Friday) work week following New Year's Day. If New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the City would observe the holiday the next day (Monday) and tree collection would take place the following full week. For example, New Year's Day 2012 holiday was observed on Monday, January 2, 2012, and holiday trees were collected the week of January 9, 2012.