This guide is reprinted from the Orange County Solid Waste and Recycling e-newsletter. Sign up to receive the monthly, informative e-news (as well as other county newsletters) here. Get the locations and hours of Waste and Recycling Centers here.
Wrapping paper, greeting cards, and single layer gift-boxes: You may be the greenie in your family who neatly folds wrapping paper for reuse (a time-honored money saver and waste reducer), but most wrapping paper and holiday cards can be recycled in Orange County. Please don’t try to recycle anything metallic such as Mylar wrapping paper or cards that play music or are encrusted with glitter. Ribbons, bows and tissue paper are also a no-no, but all other clean dry paper that tears can go in single stream recycling at the curb, at drop-off sites, and at Waste and Recycling Centers. Incidental tape and staples are OK.
Got Boxes? Corrugated cardboard is sturdy three layered cardboard with a wavy inner layer most commonly used for shipping and packaging. It must be recycled per Orange County ordinance! Cardboard boxes can be recycled at the curb in carts if they fit loosely inside the cart, and the lid still fully closes. If you use a cart, our drivers will collect only items inside the cart—nothing left on top or on the ground. For those in the rural area using orange curbside bins, there is a limit of ten pieces no larger than three feet by three feet. At apartment complexes PLEASE use the dedicated dumpsters for corrugated cardboard, not the blue recycling carts! If your cardboard at home is overflowing, or you don’t have a cardboard dumpster at your apartment complex, please use one of the 24-hour drop-off sites! Wherever you recycle your boxes, make sure they are completely empty and broken down flat.
What about packaging? Most surplus packing materials including Styrofoam peanuts, clear plastic air packs, and rigid (non-crumbly) block Styrofoam can go to local packing stores such as UPS for reuse. Call ahead to see when they’re open and what they take. A list of packing material re-users is on the County’s A-Z Recyclery (here). Freecycle is an online giveaway site ripe for posting excess packaging for others to reuse. Pop plastic air pillows to make them flat and recycle them and bubble wrap with plastic bags at local grocery stores [including Weaver Street!]. NO-NO-NO Styrofoam or plastic bags, wrap, or film in your recycling cart or bin at home, or at drop-off recycling centers!
Cooking oil: What else says holiday feast like a deep fried turkey? Just don’t pour used oil down the drain unless you want to give your plumber extra business. Used cooking oil can be recycled at the Walnut Grove Church Road Waste and Recycling Center and at the Hazardous Household Waste Collection. It will be turned into bio-fuels.
Oyster shells: Oysters are in season for only a short time, but bi-valve shells of all sorts can be recycled at the OC Landfill. They will be backhauled to the coast to refresh ocean beds for oyster babies and to help support NC Seafood.
Batteries: Recycle batteries at Waste and Recycling Centers or at other collection points in Orange County—see the A-Z Recyclery—located throughout Orange County [including Weaver Street!]. We recycle rechargeable batteries too, but they do last longer than conventional types.
Holiday lights and cords: Frustrated by burnt out bulbs? Take your tired old strands (attached light bulbs OK) to any of the Waste and Recycling Centers and place them in the electronics trailers. Our electronics recycler likes the copper within. If your lights still work but you are replacing them with eco-friendly LEDs, drop your used but reusable lights off at Salvage Sheds for reuse, also found at Waste and Recycling Centers (except Bradshaw Quarry). Help make your string lights last by wrapping them round a cardboard square. Crumpling the cable causes electrical shorts and shortens light lifespans!
Christmas trees and garlands: Remove all tinsel, lights, decorations, metal stands, and frames before bringing your natural Christmas tree and holiday greenery to the yard waste box at a Waste and Recycling Center or to the curb for your town’s Public Works Department to collect in accordance with their yard waste schedule.
Food waste reduction TIPS: If you are hosting a party and don’t want to overcook for your crowd, use the perfect portions guide from “Love Food Hate Waste.” They have savvy saving tips on that website too, but there is also the FOOD KEEPER APP to maximize the storage life of foods and beverages as well as remind you to use items before they spoil.
Food waste that can’t be saved can be composted! The food waste drop-off at Walnut Grove Church Rd. Waste and Recycling Center (north of Hillsborough) will take meat, bones, dairy, and all other kinds of food and paper scraps! This is NOT your backyard compost; it goes to a commercial composting company in Chatham County that will break down all food wastes with extended heating, moisture, and monitoring. SPOILER ALERT! The Eubanks Rd. Center is schedule to be expanded and remodeled by the end of 2016, and when it is completed, it will have food waste drop-off too.