After Christmas recycling underway
Jamiel Cantrell said the after Christmas recycling rush has already started.
“It’s been coming in all morning and it will continue until after the first of the year,” Cantrell said Wednesday. “Most of the recycling bins are packed.”
Cantrell, operations director at Shoals Solid Waste Recycling in Tuscumbia, said it is always hectic right after Christmas.
“It’s probably the heaviest times of the year for recycling,” said David Koonce, manager of the Florence Recycling Operations. “It’s something we anticipate each year and this year is no exception.”
The majority of the recycling materials coming into the two facilities is paper – Christmas wrapping paper.
“If you can tear it, we can take it,” Koonce said of the types of paper that can be brought into the recycling center.
He said the center is also seeing a lot of cardboard.
One thing the centers don’t need and can’t take is Styrofoam or the plastic wrappings off packages.
“Or the shrink wrap, (or) wood, we just can’t take it,” Cantrell said.
“We appreciate everyone recycling, but anyone putting boxes into the recycling cans or bins, please make sure and take out the Styrofoam of the boxes before putting them in the recycling bins,” Koonce said. “Just a good rule of thumb, clean out the boxes before putting them into the recycling bins.”
The centers take cardboard, paper, plastic bottles, and aluminum and metals cans.
“(The recyclables) shouldn’t be in bags,” Cantrell said. “It’s got to be separated so it’s easier for the workers who have to separate it to keep it out of garbage bags, so they can see everything that has to been separated.”
Koonce asked the public to also put “only recyclables” in the recycling bins and carts.
“They are not an overflow for the garbage carts, although some people think so,” he said.
He said mixing household garbage with recyclables contaminates the recyclable products, which means they are sent to the landfill.
Neither center is recycling live Christmas trees.
Cantrell said people who have curbside debris pickup can leave the trees at the curbs and they will be taken to the landfill.
“Or they can take them to the landfill themselves and (the trees) will be disposed of,” Cantrell said.
Koonce said the trees can be brought to a vacant lot across from the recycling center on Terrance Street and they will be disposed of.
“We’ll have fishermen come by and get them to put in the creeks or river for fish habitats. But we don’t chip them up or recycling them,” he said. “But most other holiday recyclable items we’re ready to take.”