It’s never too early to start planning after-holiday clean up. Your residents will be hosting guests, cooking meals, and unwrapping loads of gifts. With all of this, they’ll be left with unwanted trash and goods that they’ll need to purge. Consider offering the following services to help your residents clean up, give back, and start the New Year fresh.
Tree recycling
Christmas trees are biodegradable, so encourage your residents to recycle them rather than dumping them in the trash. Many cities around the U.S. offer free drop off locations for tree recycling. Consider organizing a community tree pickup and hire a crew to drop them off at a local recycling location. Recycled trees can be turned in mulch and compost, used for beach restoration, or dropped into lakes to create habitats for fish. Be sure to remind residents to remove all ornaments, tinsel, lights, and decorations from the tree to ensure it can be properly recycled. If you want to host a fun community-building event, consider offering tree carving classes, like this one, so residents can turn their trees into something they’ll use forever.
Box and paper recycling
If one thing’s for sure, your residents will be left with tons of cardboard boxes and paper after the holidays. They’ll likely have more stuff to recycle than they’ll have room in their recycling bin. Consider offering an additional one-day recycling drop off location in your community. Encourage residents to drop off excess cardboard, plastic, and paper to reduce their carbon footprint during the holidays. Hire a crew to drop these items off at your local recycling plant. Again, remind residents that certain things like plastic bags are not recyclable, and should not be used to hold their recycled materials.
Toy and clothes drive
The end of the year is a great time to reduce clutter and find items around the house that can be donated to those in need. Encourage residents to make room for their new gifts by collecting items they no longer need and dropping them off at a location in your community for donation. While toy drives typically happen before the holidays, it’s important to remember that people are in need all year long.
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