Holiday Disposal Guide

It’s the holiday season! Certain types of waste are generated more so during this time of the year, so it’s important to know what do with all the stuff! Here is your disposal guide for the most common items during the holiday season.

HOLIDAY TREE

Your tree can be recycled (composted) if:

🌲it is free from all decorations – lights, ornaments, tinsel, etc

🌲it is NOT flocked or tinted

🌲does NOT have its tree stand attached

Here are your tree recycling options:

• Self-Haul your tree: Bring your tree to Johnson Canyon Landfill or Jolon Road Transfer Station for free to become compost! In 2025, Atlas Organics is offering buy-one-get-one cubic yard of compost for recycling your tree!
• Salinas residents: place your tree at the curb (cut into 4-foot sections) or in the yard waste cart between December 26 – January 15
• Gonzales, Soledad, & Greenfield residents: Starting January 6th – January 17th, single-family residences can place their Christmas trees curbside on their normal collection day, or cut it up and put in your yard waste cart any time. Trees 6 ft and under do not need to be cut in half for curbside collection days. Trees greater than 6 ft need to be cut in half.
• King City & Unincorporated Monterey County residents: Christmas trees must be cut and placed inside the cart. Do not overfill your carts.

If your tree does not meet the requirements to be recycled, you can bring it to Johnson Canyon Landfill or Jolon Rd Transfer Station to be landfilled for a fee. You can also cut your tree into smaller pieces and place it in your curbside trash cart (but be sure it fits comfortably and the lid can close).

WRAPPING PAPER

• Shiny or metallic wrapping paper? Trash.
• Non-laminated wrapping paper? Recycle!
• Tissue Paper? Recycle!

Shiny, metallic, and laminated paper cannot be recycled, but non-laminated wrapping paper can be! You can also collect gift wrapping tissue paper for the recycle cart, though you may want to consider reusing it instead. If you’re looking to reduce waste, avoid wrapping paper altogether and choose alternatives like cloth or recycled paper bags.

Other common wrapping items that are garbage (landfill) include bows, ribbon, glitter,and confetti. Consider reusing these items if you already have them, and avoid buying them for future gifts.

BATTERIES

Remember to properly dispose of batteries and tape your button batteries, 9V, and cartridges.  All batteries can cause fires or explosions in waste trucks, recycling facilities, and landfills.  Help keep your community safe by keeping these out of the waste stream – do not put these in your recycling or trash carts.  Also, button batteries can be life-threatening to pets and kids if swallowed.  Keep them out of reach and remove them from items that no longer work.

Here’s how to dispose of batteries:

• Tape button batteries, 9V, and cartridges to avoid volatile friction during collection. Collect them in a container or bag out of reach of children.
• Drop off batteries to participating locations (for residents only – no businesses).  There are 18 locations throughout the Salinas Valley that accept residential batteries for collection and recycling, including our Household Hazardous Waste facility on 1104 Madison Lane, Salinas.
• Gonzales, Soledad, Greenfield, and Unincorporated Monterey County residents can collect batteries in a one-quart zipper bag and place ON TOP of your blue recycling cart on collection day. Bag must be closed.
• Reminder: do NOT put battteries inside of your collection carts.

ELECTRONICS

Electronics make for popular gifts this time of year, so you may be considering replacing your old electronics. If you need to dispose of things like old laptops, TV’s, small appliances, cell phones, and tablets, you can bring them to our facilities for free recycling.

CARDBOARD

You may have received gifts in their cardboard packaging, and large amounts possibly won’t fit in your curbside container. This material is recyclable, and can be brought to our facilities for free. Please be sure to break down all boxes before recycling them. You may also want to remove your personal information from any shipping labels.

FOOD SCRAPS

If you’re planning a feast with your loved ones, you’ll likely be left with some food scraps during the prep and/or during the meal. Be sure these go to good use! You can use veggie scraps for a broth or dehydrated into a seasoning, and save meal leftovers for the rest of the week! If you find that the scraps are not able to be useful, you can put them in your green cart to be picked up by your waste hauler and brought to us to be made into compost. Do not put food in the trash.

If you’re unsure about other items, you can visit https://svswa.org/what-goes-where/ to look up your item in question and learn what bin it belongs to. Thanks for doing your part!