The holiday season brings celebrations, decorations and time with loved ones \u2014 but also significant increase in waste. Lee County Solid Waste has some simple tips to help residents reduce their environmental footprint this season.<\/p>\n
In Lee County, household waste typically increases by about 20% during the holiday season. From wrapping paper and empty bottles to cooking oil and decorations, the season can leave your home full of items that could be reused or recycled, but you can reduce your environmental impact through small, actionable changes at home.<\/p>\n
Tips for this holiday season:<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be a turkey! Recycle your oil:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Never pour oil down the drain, toilet or into the garbage.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Recycled cooking oil can be sustainably repurposed into biofuel and other beneficial products.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Take it to the Lee County Household Chemical Waste Facility, 6441 Topaz Court in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Normal operating hours are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon\u00a0the first Saturday of the month.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Please note: The county\u2019s Household Chemical Waste and Electronics Recycling Facility will be\u00a0closed Thursday and Friday, Dec. 25 and Dec. 26, and again\u00a0Thursday, Jan. 1, and Friday, Jan. 2\u00a0in observance of the holidays.<\/p>\n
Ho! Ho! Ho! Where does the wrapping paper go:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Flatten shipping and gift boxes before placing them in the recycling bin. Only recycle boxes that have not held liquids.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Consider saving gift bags, boxes, tissue paper and bows to reuse for next holiday season.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Two quick ways to check wrapping paper recyclability: Try the crumple test \u2013 if it stays crumpled, it\u2019s recyclable; if it unfolds, it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Tissue paper cannot be recycled and should instead be placed in the trash.<\/p>\n
Keep the season bright, recycle your Christmas tree right:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Live Christmas trees should be placed curbside with regular yard waste on collection day.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 To ensure proper recycling, all lights, ornaments, tinsel and stands must be removed.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Flocked trees (artificial trees coated with a white, snow-like powder) should be disposed of in the trash.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Once collected, the trees are processed into mulch or compost for reuse by residents.<\/p>\n
Free mulch is available to residents at the following five locations:<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Bonita Springs: Imperial River Boat Ramp, 27551 South Tamiami Trail<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Lehigh Acres: Lehigh Acres Park, 1400 West Fifth St.<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 North Fort Myers: North Fort Myers Park, 2000 North Recreation Park Way<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 Pine Island:\u00a0 Adjacent to the Water Treatment Plant on 6650 Masters Landing Drive, St. James City<\/p>\n
\u2022 \u00a0 South Fort Myers: Three Oaks Park, 18251 Three Oaks Parkway<\/p>\n
By downloading the Recycle Coach app, you will be able to obtain your curbside collection schedule, sign up for alerts, and quickly learn how to properly dispose of different waste materials.\u00a0To download the Recycle Coach app visit\u00a0leegov.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n For more information about recycling and waste disposal, contact Lee County Solid Waste at 239-533-8000 or visit\u00a0leegov.com\/solidwaste<\/a>.<\/p>\n To receive updates from Lee County Government, sign up for the newsletter HERE<\/a>\u00a0and follow on social media<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The holiday season brings celebrations, decorations and time with loved ones \u2014 but also significant increase in waste.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":{"0":"post-99338","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-cape-coral","9":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","10":"tag-cape-coral-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}