Need help cleaning up the Christmas after-party? Here’s how to do it | CBC News

Drop your Christmas Tree at a EnviroDepot location 

If you are looking to get rid of your Christmas tree or other objects from the holidays, you can visit an EnviroDepot location at one of the three following days (in addition to Wednesdays and Saturdays at EnviroDepots):

• Thursday, December 28, 12 to 5 p.m.

• Tuesday, January 2, 12 to 5 p.m.

• Sunday, January 7, 12 to 5 p.m.

Visit the EnviroDepot webpage for locations and regular winter hours of operation. Fees apply to some items (e.g. bagged garbage is $1.50, $2.00 effective Jan. 1, 2024 per bag).

All decorations, tinsel, garland, skirts and lights should be removed from your tree. 

Put gift wrap and bags in the trash can

Paper items, such as gift wraps, that are coated with plastic or foil contain coloured dyes are not recyclable. Throw it in the trash, not the blue bin. 

Flatten your boxes

Break down, flatten, and tie your cardboard into bundles or stack them flattened in your blue box.  Oversized cardboard may be dropped off at an EnviroDepot for no charge.

Avoid “wishcycling”

Just because you “wish” you could recycle something, doesn’t mean you can. Here are some items that should stay out of the blue box.

• Clementine boxes

• Ribbons, bows, and decorations

• Plastic toys

• Styrofoam and bubble wrap

• Paper napkins, towels, and soiled paper plates.

Put fats, oils, and grease (FOG) in the right place

Have leftover gravy from your holiday meal? Don’t pour it down the sink or toilet. Thick liquids like fats, oils and grease can block sewer pipes and cause other major issues.

Use a City of London FOG Cup instead. Keep FOG in the cup, and when the cup is full, it can be returned to an EnviroDepot where it will be used to generate green energy. One full FOG cup can be turned into enough energy to power a refrigerator for a day. Free FOG cups can be picked up at the city’s EnviroDepots and other locations such as community centres and libraries. 

If you do not have a FOG cup, you can also collect fats, oils, and grease in a coffee mug and you can place in the freezer. When it is full, please scrape out the contents in your garbage. When the green bin program starts, FOG cups and fats, oils and grease can also go into the green bin.