Now that Christmas has passed, the city is offering free curbside “tree-cycling” until January 9th for customers who subscribe to curbside food and yard waste collection.
Trees and greens need to be cut into sections of no more than six feet with branches trimmed to less than four feet to fit into the collection trucks. Sections of trees should be bundled together with string or twine. Apartment and condo residents can put one tree next to each yard waste bin with no extra charge.
Flocked trees or trees with tinsel on them will be collected as extra garbage. These trees must be cut into three-foot pieces and each piece will be charged as extra garbage. (Just a reminder that starting on January 1, each extra unit of garbage will cost $8.10.)
Residents who don’t subscribe to food and yard waste collection can drop trees and greens at the North Recycling and Disposal station (North 34th Street and Carr Place N) from December 26th through January 9th. Tree sections must be cut into sections eight feet or less with trunks four inches or smaller in diameter. One vehicle can drop off three trees.
As for the other post-holiday items on your throw-out list, Seattle Public Utilities wants to remind the community that all that wrapping paper is recyclable, even if it has some tape on it. You can also recycle clean paper and plastic cups, as well as aluminum foil and foil trays without food residue.
You’ll probably have extra recycling this time around, so put extra in a cardboard box and set it next to your recycling container (don’t put it in plastic bags). Flatten extra cardboard boxes.
And all food leftovers should go in your yard waste bin to be composted, not put in your garbage can.
Leftover fruitcake isn’t garbage anymore! According to SPU, 30 percent of Seattle’s garbage is made up of food waste. Put your leftover fruitcake, Christmas ham, nutshells, pumpkin pie, paper napkins, pizza boxes and other leftovers in your food and yard waste cart to make compost for local parks and gardens. For tips on storing and carrying scraps from kitchen to cart go to www.seattle.gov/util/foodwaste. Consider donating non-perishable food to your local food bank.