Tear test, stretch test and more: How to figure out what to recycle from the holidays

What items can be recycled from the holidays? This time of year, Calgarians' recycling almost triples, but a lot of what goes into our blue bins shouldn't be there.

According to the City of Calgary, people living in the city generate about 25 per cent more waste "during the Christmas season, but recycling doubles and a lot of what's in the blue bins shouldn't be there."

"We definitely see some wish-cycling during the Christmas season," said Sharon Howland, program management leader with waste and recycling services for the City of Calgary.

"About 15 per cent of what Calgarians put in their blue carts shouldn't be in there, and that's things like burnt-out Christmas tree lights, broken toys, electronics and batteries—things that are definitely dangerous at the recycling facility that we do not want in that blue bin."

Howland says most people putting unrecyclable items in their blue bins simply aren't aware of what's acceptable and what isn't.

That's why every year she offers a primer on how to quickly determine what's OK and what's not.

The tear test

"Wrapping paper is probably the thing we have the most of during the holiday season, and it's pretty easy to recycle. You can tell if it's recyclable by just giving it a little tear. It's the tear test. Sounds like paper; it's recyclable. Crumple it up, throw it in your blue cart." Howland said.

"If it doesn't tear like that—if it's more crinkly, plasticky feeling—it's more likely a cellophane product, and that's just garbage, unfortunately, because it's not a recyclable type of plastic."

Howland says any paper products contaminated after coming in contact with food should go in the green bin.

"If the paper product is food-soiled, you compost it. If it's clean, you recycle it," Howland said.

"So, during the holiday season, the type of paper products that we might have—muffin liners, parchment paper—all of those are food-soiled, and you're just going to compost those with your food scraps."

Another bugbear for consumers and recycling facilities alike is the plastic bag.

Howland says mixing in the wrong plastics with the recycling downgrades the product and costs taxpayers money.

"So, what happens is that it is going to end up sorted into the same material category as this paper, and the mill that buys this paper doesn't want it in there," Howland said.

"They're going to downgrade the product if they're going to see a whole bunch of that in there, and that means we're going to get less value out of that. And if it was highly contaminated, they might reject it."

The stretch test

So, how do you determine if your plastic is recyclable or not? Howland offers up another easy test:

"The bubble wrap, the shipping pillows—they are all recyclable. So, if you do the stretch test on those by pushing your thumb into it, does your thumb stretch through the material?" Howland said.

"If it does, you can bag all of those up with your plastic bags and put that in your blue cart for recycling. If it crinkles like a chip bag and it doesn't stretch, then that is not recyclable plastic film."

Recycling number codes

To determine if hard plastic containers like clamshell muffin containers are recyclable, look for the recycling number imprinted on the plastic.

If it is between 1 and 7, it is recyclable.

If not, it's garbage.

No batteries, please

Recycling facilities cannot process batteries of any kind, and Howland says they are dangerous, putting staff, buildings and vehicles at risk.

"So many things contain batteries, even the small button batteries, and those are some of the largest culprits. ... A lot of those do cause fires," Howland said.

"If you put that in your blue cart, and it gets crushed in the truck or by the equipment at the recycling sorting facility, it can cause a fire. And that's a building full of paper, a 100,000-square-foot building full of paper and staff. And when that ignites, it needs to be evacuated. It's so scary for everyone involved.

"When a fire happens in a City of Calgary collection truck, they actually have to find an open parking lot and just unload immediately, and then the fire department will come and put everything out. And you can imagine how scary that is for the driver of that truck when he realizes that there's a fire in there."

Howland says it's important to realize just how pervasive batteries are in modern devices, not just in the things we put batteries in but in anything that's rechargeable, as they also contain batteries inside them.

She also says many people forget musical cards also contain batteries, and if they are going to be recycled, the batteries must be removed.

Christmas trees

Real trees can be composted in your green bin, but you must cut them into 1.25-metre lengths (four feet).

From Dec. 26 to Jan. 31, they can also be taken to any of the city's temporary drop-off locations or city landfills.

Styrofoam

For the first year ever, Calgarians can recycle Styrofoam and other foam packaging material, but it cannot go in the blue bin.

It can be taken to any City of Calgary landfill, where it can be dropped off free of charge in the Eco-centres.

Changes to 2024 holiday pickup schedule

Because both Christmas and New Year's Day fall on a weekday this year, people who have their bins picked up on Wednesdays will see their schedule change over the holidays.

Those Calgarians should put their bins out on Monday, Dec. 23, and again on Monday, Dec. 30.

Pickup will return to normal the following week.

For a complete listing of what's recyclable, head to the City of Calgary's website.