The aftermath of Christmas left Saskatoon recycling depots overflowing with cardboard boxes and wrapping paper on Boxing Day.
Christmas packaging littered the ground of Saskatoon’s Lawson Heights recycling depot, as bins overflowed with unflattened boxes.
Saskatoon has three recycling depots for residential use, one in Lawson Heights by the civic centre, University Heights on Lowe Road behind Fire Station 9, and Lakewood along McKercher Drive.
The City of Saskatoon has been working hard to keep the waste under control, and by Wednesday, all three recycling depots were cleaned up.
“Three trucks have been dedicated this week to clearing material from the City’s recycling depots, with the Lawson Heights Recycling Depot having been cleaned twice today,” read a statement from the city on Wednesday.
The city said that while it always plans for extra waste around the holidays, sometimes the amount of Christmas waste exceeds expectations.
It also reminded residents to flatten their boxes as much as they can to make extra space in the bins and to drive to another drop-off location if the one near them is full.
“This allows time for collections staff to keep up with the amount of dropped-off material. Residents can also visit the Material Recovery Centre, which accepts recyclables among other divertible items such as electronics, metals and more.”
The Lakewood depot is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. The other depots are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The city’s website also has a list of tips when recycling materials:
- Your clean recyclable material can be tossed loosely into the recycle bin (no bagging except as noted below)
- Place shredded paper in a clear, tied plastic bag
- Remove caps from milk jugs and beverage containers, give them a quick rinse, flatten them, and they’ll be ready to recycle
- Flatten all cardboard boxes
- Depots are for residential use only (not for commercial use)
– With files from Global News’ Brody Langager