Post-holiday garbage haul
LOREN BENOIT/Press Rick Harnes drops off his family’s Christmas tree Thursday afternoon at the Ramsey Road transfer station. The transfer station expects to see large amounts of trees throughout the next week.
By DEVIN WEEKS
Staff Writer
The paper, ribbons and bows used to wrap holiday presents wind up contributing to some of the biggest trash days of the year.
"We always expect a lot of waste coming in, mainly the two days after Christmas," Kootenai County solid waste director Cathy Mayer said Thursday. "I've worked in solid waste for over 25 years and we always plan for the craziness right after Christmas at every site I’ve ever worked at. It doesn’t matter what state or what facility. That’s one of the busiest days."
According to the Stanford University Peninsula Sanitary Service, Inc. and the Stanford Recycling Center, Americans discard 25 percent more trash from Thanksgiving to New Year's, amounting to 25 million tons of garbage or roughly 1 million extra tons per week.
Boxes and cardboard contribute to this mountain of holiday trash.
“We even had our secretary go out and help break down cardboard for recycling,” Mayer said.
Christmas trees also add to the trash pile. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, about 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. each year.
Aside from Post Falls on Jan. 19, other area municipalities aren't picking up Christmas trees curbside.
People can discard their trees at the Ramsey transfer station, 3330 N. Ramsey Road in Coeur d'Alene, or at the Post Falls site at 15580 W. Prairie Ave.
Mayer said the sites don't really see a lot of trees in the week to 10 days after the holiday.
"Sometimes those tend to trickle in a little slower," she said.
When North Idahoans are ready to discard their Christmas trees, the trees should be cleared of all tinsel, garland and decorations before they're dropped off for repurposing.
"They can bring the trees in," Mayer said. "As long as they don't have a lot of stuff on them, we can put them with the wood waste for grinding and recycling."
Mayer said she didn't notice anything out of the ordinary following the 2018 holiday season — a line of cars was backed up to the road the day after Christmas, but that's commonplace.
The transfer stations do experience a slight volume of appliances and electronics following Christmas, but "hopefully they're trying to resell them as much as possible before they come here," Mayer said.