GREEN BAY — Wrapped holiday gifts and boxes under the tree bring lots of excitement, but lots of waste. Thankfully, there's plenty of alternatives to dispose of your holiday waste so it doesn't end up in a landfill.
Georgia-Pacific's Green Bay Broadway site has drop-off bins located at Potts and Broadway Street in Green Bay, and this is just one option to get rid of excess holiday gift wrapping paper and cardboard boxes.
Chris Brennan, public affairs manager at Georgia-Pacific, said these bins are fuller than ever this time of year, and that's a good thing.
“If you were to take a recycled box and put it back in the process, you’re able to utilize that material to make maybe five to seven new boxes," Brennan said. "By doing that, you keep these boxes out of the landfill unnecessarily which is beneficial from an environmental standpoint.”
Brennan said Georgia-Pacific's Green Bay Broadway site is one of the largest wastepaper recycling operations in the world. They take recycled paper products and turn them into products like paper towel dispensers found in schools, hospitals and airports.
“If you think about the holiday time, it could be scraps from a greeting card. It could be holiday boxes, things of that nature," Brennan said.
He said to avoid recycling Christmas lights and emphasized the importance of recycling holiday paper waste and doing so properly.
“I think it’s important for everyone to be educated on what their recycling protocols are, so my suggestion or my advice would be to check with your local municipality," Brennan said. "Ensure what can and cannot be recycled because that helps our operations, and for the municipality, it helps them on the sorting and organizing side which is beneficial for everybody.”
More information on recycling in Green Bay can be found here.
