Recycling, Holiday Style

Each year, UCCE Tuolumne County Master Gardeners suggest ways to reuse and recycle holiday trimmings. This year there is good news and there is bad news.

BAD NEWS:

• The semi-annual Master Gardener “styrofoam” collection is no more. Until recently, Dart Container Corporation’s manufacturing facility in Lodi accepted #6 expanded polystyrene foam to repurpose into food containers. Foam food containers are being phased out in California.
• Trash accumulates faster during the holidays. According to Earth911.com, Americans throw out 25% more trash during the holiday season, amounting to 25 million extra tons of material destined for landfills.
• Travel creates more greenhouse gases. AAA stated that more people traveled for Thanksgiving holidays in 2024 than ever before. More than 71 million people drove more than 50 miles and almost 6 million people flew.
• Food waste is accelerated due to cooking large quantities with more unusual ingredients that don’t get used up. The US Department of Agriculture estimates that 30-40% of all food is wasted between production and the consumer’s table. In 2010, that amounted to 161 billion dollars’ worth of food!

GOOD NEWS:

 In line with California residents’ concern about environmental effects, Dart Container is moving away from foam food containers into a line of recycled-content paper hot cups, compostable paper and compostable fiber dinnerware. Their products now bear a leaf logo to designate items that contain recycled content, are commercially compostable and designed for recycling. Congratulations to Dart Container Corporation!

If you still receive items packed in white foam, where can you recycle it? Try calling Foam Fabricators, (209) 523-7002, 301 9th Street, Building B, in Modesto, (http://www.foamfabricatorsinc.com/) to determine if they still accept expanded foam products. According to Earth911.com, some transfer stations in Calaveras County accept #6 expanded polystyrene foam as well as #6 packing peanuts. Packing peanuts and other packaging materials may be taken to the UPS Store next to Safeway in Sonora or to Pac-N-Copy in the Junction Shopping Center.

If you decorated with a live, cut Christmas tree, it can be chipped at home to make mulch. Mulch provides nutrients to the soil, controls weed growth and reduces evaporation during our hot summers. Or, during January, drop off your tree for free at the Earth Resource Facility in Sonora or the Groveland Transfer Station. For more information, see Tuolumne County’s Christmas tree recycling web page at https://www.tuolumnecounty.ca.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=844

Make a New Year’s Resolution to reduce waste during the holidays by reducing food waste and reusing holiday wrapping, boxes and bags. Wishing you a happy holiday season and a prosperous and peaceful New Year from UCCE Master Gardeners.

Rebecca Miller-Cripps is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Tuolumne County who brings her Charlie Brown living Christmas tree inside each year.