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Holiday Recycling Tips

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, Americans throw out 25 percent more trash than any other time of that year.

Here a a few tips on where to dispose of your holiday-related waste:

Cardboard: Flatten and put in your recycling cart.

Ribbons and bows: It’s best to reuse them; otherwise place in garbage.

Gift wrap: Reuse or recycle.

Greeting cards and envelopes: Recycle.

Batteries: Alkaline batteries can go in the garbage. You can find places throughout Seattle that can recycle all varieties of batteries at www.call2recycle.org/locator.

Old Christmas lights: King County offers a list of nearby locations where you can recycle your lights for free.

Foam: Call your local mailing/shipping store to see if they will accept clean packing peanuts. Foam chunks used for packaging are collected at a few locations in the Puget Sound area, including Styro Recycle in Renton. Otherwise, foam goes in the garbage. Bag the peanuts to prevent litter.

Electronics: Go to www.ecyclewashington.org for locations to drop off your old TVs, monitors and computers.

It’s best to use up what you have,  donate items in good condition that you no longer need, and purchase items with little or no packaging.

Want to learn where other stuff should be disposed? Visit www.seattle.gov/util/lookitup to find out!