Recycling? You’ll Be High On Santa’s List

Got everything you wanted? Now: What are you going to do with the tree next week, not to mention that mound of boxes, cardboard and wrapping in the middle of the living room?

If you answered “Find an environmentally responsible way of disposing of it,” you are headed for the top of Santa’s list for 1996.

To make sure you get there, here are some suggestions for cleaning house without trashing the rest of the world.

Call your municipality to see if it will collect trees this year and dispose of them responsibly. If it isn’t, call around to local nurseries. Some are collecting trees and putting them through the old chipper to be reincarnated as a recycled product.

Tear the covers off all those Christmas cards and use them as postcards throughout the year or use them as tree decorations next year.

Flatten gift boxes and use them for wrapping gifts for all the other celebratory events that will come along in 1996. Salvage what wrapping paper you can and reuse it also.

Compost uneaten food. Better yet, if you have a lot left over, donate it to a kitchen for the homeless.

Contact your local U.S. Mailroom business to see if it is participating in the collection of polystyrene foam packaging, including those little peanuts as well as the protective inserts that keep computers, televisions and other products safe during shipping.