What to do with Christmas waste

JACKSON, Tenn. – The post Christmas cleanup is never fun. But before you start throwing everything in the trash, keep in mind that a lot of your Christmas waste can be recycled.

Director for the City of Jackson Health and Sanitation Department, Leilani Mills, spoke about some common items.

“The paper products that would be acceptable would be your wrapping paper, and packing boxes. We ask that you do break down the boxes that are larger,” Mills said.

Mills says city residents are pretty good with keeping up their recycling.

“Our paper and cardboard containers get serviced quite often. Because we fill those quite a bit. That’s a good thing,” Mills said. “We’ve got them at Lowe’s south parking lot. We have two at North Park. Then we also have one at Westwood Gardens Drive, just past the athletic center at the end.”

There’s also the big item: The Christmas tree.

COVID-19 has forced the city to cancel events where they organize all the tree shredding. For now, they’re telling folks to dispose of the trees like normal garbage.

“They just ask that you dispose of the Christmas trees, like you do your normal garbage: at the curb. We will pick it up,” Mills said.

As a reminder, plastics are no longer recyclable in Jackson. Other non-recyclables include items that are contaminated by food, and wax products.