Dear Recycle Lady,
The Christmas wreaths that I used this year were made of pine on a heavy wire frame. They were beautiful, but what do I do with them now? Are the wire frames recyclable?
Time to Take Them Down
Dear Time to Take Them Down,
Yes, the wire frames are recyclable. Just remove the pine and take the wire to the Recycling Center. Be sure to use sharp wire cutters and wear garden gloves when removing the pine from the wire form as pine needles are very sharp. Better yet, use the intact wreaths as an insulating mulch in your garden. Not only will this add winter protection to your outdoor plants, but by spring the pine will decompose and be much easier to remove. Plus, the decomposed pine needles will add nutrients to your garden. The wire may be rusty, but it still recycles. If you had a commercially made wreath with decorations on it, those decorations can be removed and used next year to make your own wreath or to embellish a purchased wreath. Have you ever made a wreath from the branches trimmed from your live Christmas tree before you put it up? Next year use the pine from the tree to cover the wire frames,add the decorations and bows you saved this year, and you have a new wreath. A savings for you and a good deal for the environment.
Dear Recycle Lady,
The week or so before Christmas, newspapers were filled with colorful advertisements. Some of the ads were definitely printed on newsprint, but many of them appeared to be slicks. Do these ads need to be pulled out before recycling the newspaper?
Recycler
Dear Recycler,
The ads that are obviously printed on newspaper are recycled with newspapers. The ads that are obviously slicks are recycled with magazines. The big question, however, is which of the colored ads are slicks and which of the colored ads are really high-quality ink on newsprint. The colored print ads on heavy paper are usually a slick. One way to determine if an ad is a slick is to wet one corner of the questionable ad. The newsprint ad will then tear easily, the slick will not. Try a magazine corner as an example. I discovered this one morning when my Sunday newspaper was heavily soaked and the ads were all wet. However, if in doubt, put the ads in with newspapers.
Dear Recycle Lady,
I see a lot of pop cans thrown in the trash. What is the benefit of recycling these cans?
Reader
Dear Reader,
Recycling aluminum cans saves nearly 95% of the energy needed to create one new can from virgin aluminum. That means you can make 20 cans out of recycled material with the same amount of energy it takes to make one can out of new material. In one year alone, energy savings using recycled cans are enough to light a city the size of Pittsburgh for six years, according to Treehugger.com.
Dear Readers,
Have you made an environmentally friendly New Year’s resolution this year? Consider the impact that would be made if everyone were to make a New Year’s resolution to begin recycling one item that they haven’t previously been recycling. We could help provide a safer environment us and our wildlife and marine life, reduce our energy consumption, put reusable goods back to use, and reduce the amount of trash sent to the landfill. A worthy goal with little effort!
Have questions about recycling, or interesting information about recycling? Send questions or requests togrecycle450@gmail.com. Dear Recycle Lady is sponsored jointly by the Greenbrier Recycling Center and Greenworks Recycling.
