Town of Gray - Holiday Recycling Guide

Helpful tips from the Gray Recycling Committee on what to Recycle this year.

Christmas Trees – Gray chips REAL Christmas trees. Please make sure you remove all the decorations, tinsel, and lights from your tree before you drop it off at the Transfer Station! Also consider donating $$ - The Transfer Station will also be accepting monetary donations for their disposal – benefiting the Gray Food Pantry! 

Here’s a Naughty and Nice list to remind you of what can be recycled!

RECYCLING DOs to get you on the Nice list this holiday season:

• Wrapping paper that rips: If it rips, it recycles. Try the rip test and if it passes, place it in mixed paper.
• Holiday cards: Even if they have glitter on them, they are recyclable. Don’t let all of that recyclable paper go to waste this season, put them in your mixed paper.
• Aluminum foil pans: Whether it is pie plates, fruit cake pans or any other aluminum pan, remember the rule that if the pan is not soiled, then the pans are recyclable. The same goes for aluminum foil! Aluminum goes in with the cans.
• Cardboard and gift boxes: With the rise of cybershopping, you might have a bigger inventory of cardboard boxes, and gift boxes as well. Break them down flat before placing them in the cardboard bin.
• Cookie tins: When you receive tins of cookies, consider saving them to contain your own baked gift next year, or donating them to a charity store or any other salvage shop. But if they are no longer useful, do place them in with your cans.

Recycling DON’Ts that will land you on the Naughty list:

• Bows and ribbon: There is no way to recycle these, so your best bet is to save them and reuse them each year or do away with disposable gift wrap altogether with decorative cloth gift bags. Bows and ribbon go in the trash.
• Wrapping paper that doesn’t rip: If your wrapping paper does not rip, then it is probably made of plastic vs. paper and goes in the trash.
• Christmas tree lights: Maybe you’re trimming the tree only to discover that last year’s lights are no longer repairable. In this case, your best bet is to donate them to a local charity store. They can sell broken lights onto the market because of the valuable copper wires usually contained inside. If not, they are considered trash.
• Soiled foil: Aluminum foil is endlessly recyclable – if it is not soiled. If it is, toss it in the trash.
• Plastic cutlery: If you can avoid it altogether, that is the best strategy, but if you need to use it, consider reusing it again and again. When you cannot use it any longer, it goes in the trash.