With Christmas just around the corner, carefully wrapped gifts are piling up around freshly-cut pine trees in many St. Paul homes. When the celebrations are over, however, recycling bins begin piling up with waste.

The recycling process in St. Paul can be difficult to maneuver, and many items people assume are recyclable, like wrapping paper or Christmas lights, end up clogging the system and causing delays.

“Decorative lights definitely impact our recycling sorting process and you want to make sure to keep them out of your recycling bin,” Katrina Lund, director of community engagement at Eureka Recycling in Minneapolis, said in a statement. “These types of materials get wrapped up in our sortation equipment and cause jams, breakdowns and more. We actually have to shut our facility down two hours a day to cut and remove “tanglers” like this from our sorting line.”

During the holiday season, Americans toss away 25% more trash, or what amounts to an extra one million tons of garbage each week, according to the MN Pollution Control Agency.

However, residents of St. Paul don’t have to toss out those yards of holiday lights or store them in the attic until next December; the city of St. Paul is recycling lights between Dec. 1, 2021 to Jan. 20, 2022. Residents can go here to find drop-off points.

One live Christmas tree is also recyclable for each household from Jan. 2 to Jan. 15, and artificial trees can be picked up for a fee. For more details on holiday, residents can visit the accepted materials list in the Holiday Item Disposal segment.

Residents can find a comprehensive list on the city’s website of all the recyclable materials the city disposes of and how residents are able to do so.

Elijah Todd-Walden can be reached at todd5861@stthomas.edu.