Some Holiday Leftovers May Be Recycled
By Space Coast Daily // January 1, 2013
Christmas Trees Ground Into Mulch
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Brevard County’s Solid Waste Department is reminding everyone that with the holidays ending, some items may be added for recycling while other may not.
The following items may be added to your recycling containers or carts as part of the county’s single stream recycling program — wrapping paper, flattened cardboard boxes, greeting cards, gift boxes, aluminum foil and cleaned foil cooking pans.
The stream of waste materials into the landfill increases by about 15 to 20 percent from the Thanksgiving holiday through New Year’s week.
“We hope to see those numbers decrease over the Christmas holiday since residents can now recycle their wrapping paper, greeting cards and gift boxes,” says Hillary Arena, Brevard County Recycling Coordinator. “We do expect a decrease in the waste coming into the landfills due in part to the single stream recycling efforts of our residents.”
The landfill typically receives about 8,000 tons of yard debris a month. Around the holidays, live Christmas trees add to those monthly tons.
In an effort to divert those trees from the landfill, the trees are collected at the curb and mulched.
Residents can set out Christmas trees with their yard waste on their regular yard waste pickup day. The trees are then ground up and mulched.
Don’t forget to remove the ornaments, tinsel, garland, and tree stands from the trees. In addition, remove any plastic tree bags since the plastic bags cannot be mulched.
The free mulch is available at three locations – Mockingbird Mulching Facility in Titusville; the Central Disposal Facility (CDF) in Cocoa; and the Sarno landfill.
The county offers a fine-ground mulch that can be added to potting soils and a coarser lasting mulch that stay on the ground longer during the spring’s heavy rains.
Residents also need to bring their own containers, bags and shovels for the mulch.
Residents are encouraged to call the Central Disposal Facility at 321-633-1888, Mockingbird Mulching Facility in Titusville) at 321-264-5048 or the Sarno Landfill at 321-255-4366 for information and to check the availability of the free mulch.
For more information about recycling, call the Solid Waste Management Department at 321-633-2042.
