Livingston Offers Recycling Tips For Holiday Gift Garbage

LIVINGSTON, NJ -- The following news release comes courtesy of Livingston Township. Send news releases to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Livingston’s Recycling & Reclamation Committee offers a number of tips for recycling your holiday giftwrap and packaging, to make sure that what you put out for collection can be successfully recycled.

According to Tiffanie Nyzio of Giordano Companies Inc., Livingston’s recycling collector, “The main recycling issue during the holidays is forgetting to remove styrofoam inserts from cardboard boxes. Cardboard can’t be recycled with styrofoam inside, so it’s important to remove styrofoam and recycle that along with your bottles and cans.”

Paper and cardboard packing and molded package inserts formed from brown paper can be recycled with newspaper. Cardboard boxes with clear plastic windows can be recycled as long as the plastic window is removed (the plastic window goes in the regular garbage). Shredded paper can be recycled – residents must put the shredded paper inside a clear plastic bag and place the bag out with paper recycling.

Boxes that are waxed or laminated are not recyclable, nor are gift wrapping or paper with foil accents; those must go in the regular trash. Decorative ‘crinkle cut’ package fillers and plastic items smaller than a golf ball must be put in regular trash, as they get caught in recycling plant conveyor belts.

When recycling loose plastic bags, residents are reminded to tie several bags into a bundle or tuck a few bags inside one another before recycling them. This “bundling” helps reduce chances that the bags will become entangled in the conveyer belts.

Always put plastic, glass, and cans out for collection in a clear bag or loose in an open container. Never put out commingled items in black bags or cardboard boxes.

Collection Schedule: There will be no recycling collection on either Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. Holiday recycling pickups will move forward one day each week during the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s.

Christmas Week: Zone 1 recycling will be picked up on Tuesday, December 26; Zone 2 recycling will be picked up on Wednesday, December 27; Zone 3 recycling will be picked up on Thursday, December 28; Zone 4 recycling will be picked up on Friday, December 29; and Zone 5 will be picked up on Saturday, December 30.

New Year’s Week: Zone 1 recycling will be picked up on Tuesday, January 2; Zone 2 recycling will be picked up on Wednesday, January 3; Zone 3 recycling will be picked up on Thursday, January 4; Zone 4 recycling will be picked up on Friday, January 5; and Zone 5 will be picked up on Saturday, January 6.

Find helpful recycling information and resources on the Township website at www.livingstonnj.org. Residents with questions should call the Township Clerk at (973) 992-5000 ext. #5405.

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