What can you do with your Christmas tree?

Holidays change garbage schedule

It’s that time of year when the Christmas tree grows dry and the garbage cans overflow with wrapping paper and other remnants of the holiday season.

With both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day falling on Mondays, that also means that many people in Columbus are going to have a slightly different garbage schedule than normal. The city released its updated schedule this week as a reminder that most residents will see their trash collection delayed by one day following the holiday.

Christmas week trash collection

● Monday, Dec. 25: No collection

● Tuesday, Dec. 26: Gray

● Wednesday, Dec. 27: Navy

● Thursday, Dec. 28: Pink

● Friday, Dec. 29: Ruby

Trash collection for week of New Year’s

● Monday, Jan. 1: No collection

● Tuesday, Jan. 2: Gold

● Wednesday Jan. 3: Gray

● Thursday, Jan. 4: Navy

● Friday, Jan. 5: Pink

● Monday, Jan. 8: Ruby

For gold collection areas, a collection will be made on Friday, Dec. 22, and on Tuesday, Jan. 2.

For residents who are not assigned a color, if the schedules trash pickup day falls on or after the holiday, their trash pickup will be delayed by one day during the week of the holiday.

Weekly recycling and biweekly yard waste service with a collection day that falls on or after the holiday will be delayed by one day during the week of the holiday, with Friday’s collection occurring on Saturday.

Residents can check their trash pickup day online.

Recycling that Christmas tree

Rumpke trash removal service provides Columbus residents free Christmas tree pickup on their scheduled trash day.

All decorations, including tinsel, lights and ornaments, should be removed from the tree, and the tree shouldn’t be bagged. Trees 8 feet or taller should be sawed in half.

Pickup starts Dec. 26, the day after Christmas. The city chips the trees and uses them in mulch for landscaping.

Residents can also drop their trees off free of charge at several yard waste facilities. The facilities may require drivers license or other proof of Columbus residency.

● Com-til: 7000 Jackson Pike, Columbus

● Kurtz Bros. and Mulch Manufacturing Inc.: 2850 Rohr Road, Columbus; 6055-C Westerville Road, Westerville; 6279 Houchard Road, Dublin; 6747 Taylor Road S.W., Reynoldsburg

● Ohio Mulch: 4120 Roberts Road, Columbus; 4665 Westerville Rd., Westerville;

1600 Universal Rd., Columbus; 2541 Harrisburg Pike, Grove City; 537 Reynoldsburg-new Albany Rd., Blacklick

Wrapping paper

There are some limits to what you can and can’t recycle when it comes to packages, shipping containers and wrapping paper.

Plain, untreated wrapping paper, envelopes from Christmas cards and broken-down cardboard boxes are like any other recyclable item. Just double check to make sure the wrapping paper you put in your blue bins doesn’t include dyes, lamination materials, glitter or plastic. Also, avoid putting items like ribbon, bows and Christmas lights in your recycle bin.

If you have questions about whether something is or isn’t recyclable, the city of Columbus website has a searchable database that includes a host of dropoff locations for your recyclables if you can’t wait to clean out your home.

bagallion@dispatch.com