After-holiday cleanup: What to recycle

After-holiday cleanup: What to recycle

Wrap dominates the holidays: The boxes you wrap, the wrapping you trash, and the left-over wrap you'll probably keep.

Here's a hint about gift wrap: It usually can't be recycled. Metallic paper can never be recycled, neither can glittery things or paper with plastic in it. Same for gift bags. The test is whether you an crumble it up and whether it stays crumbled. If it stays crumbled you might be able to recycle it.

Some things that can't be recycled:

Decorations

Trees, real or artificial

Clothing and shoes

Ribbons and bows

Cellophane wrap

Packing materials, including bubble wrap and foam peanuts.

Food waste

Anything battery powered.

Sticky gift labels

But you can recycle:

Gift boxes

Tissue paper

Shoe Boxes

Cards and envelopes