Now the presents have been unwrapped, your living room probably looks like you’ve thrown one heck of a party. If you did the festive season proud, colourful paper, ribbons and gift tags are likely strewn all over your house.
Soon you’ll be heading into the kitchen to whip up a Christmas Day feast, but before you gather up all of the torn wrapping paper and tidbits to pop them in the bin, there is something you should know. Being privy will keep you from making a little-known when cleaning up.
According to waste management company, Veolia, not all wrapping paper can be tossed into the recycling.
While it’s best practice to save and reuse what you can for next year, that’s not always the case.
“Wrapping paper made from 100% paper can go in your yellow lid bin,” a spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia.
“If tiny hands get all excited and tear their way to the gift, making the wrapping irrecoverable, then this is where it needs to go.”
How will you know if it’s paper? Because it will be easy to tear, the spokesperson explained.
However, on the other hand, metallic wrapping paper and paper with glitter or foil can’t be recycled, so it will have to go in the red bin and eventually, into landfill.
Only wrapping paper made from 100 per cent paper can go into your yellow lid bin. Source: Yahoo News Australia
But it’s not all bad news for those who have an eye for shiny things.
“You don’t have to give up the glitter to save the environment,” the spokesperson said.
“It is actually possible to make your own completely biodegradable ‘edible’ glitter.”
If you’d like to give it a shot, here’s CSIRO’s recipe.
What other Christmas wrapping can’t I recycle?
In general, sticky tape itself is not recyclable, so it’s best to remove it before tossing wrapping paper in the bin.
“The real challenge is putting it in the bin gracefully as you unstick it from one finger to only have it stick to another,” the spokesperson joked.
Metallic stick-on bows “that add bling” to your presents will also have to go to the landfill.
“We all know the super Christmas stylists that see wrapping presents as a competition sport and love to top it with a glittering stick-on bow,” they said, adding that thankfully, “the grand champions of wrapping have a solution”.
“Tie the ribbon into a fancy bow and then when the present is unwrapped, store that ribbon in a safe place and use it again next year.”
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