The season of gift-giving and home deliveries frequently means lots of household waste, especially Styrofoam and plastic packaging materials from eCommerce boxes and shipments.
The Burlington County Department of Solid Waste and Recycling is reminding residents that Styrofoam should be removed from all cardboard shipping boxes and disposed of in household trash, not in curbside recycling containers.
Plastic bubble wrap and packaging, such as air pillows, should also be kept out of curbside recycling because they can jam and damage the sorting equipment at the county recycling center. Residents who want to recycle this material may bring it to a dedicated dropoff site at the Burlington County Resource Recovery Complex, 2200 Burlington-Columbus Road in Florence.
Residents may also bring bread bags, newspaper sleeves, dry-cleaning bags, ice bags and wrapping from cases of beverages or paper goods.
The complex is open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon. To bring in plastic film materials, enter the complex and follow signs to the scale house, where the material will be directed to the plastic film dropoff.
County residents can also bring burned-out or damaged holiday lights or unwanted electronic items, including old TVs, computers, monitors, printers, batteries and other small electronics devices to the Resource Recovery Complex for recycling. These items often contain hazardous materials and must not be discarded in household recycling containers.
Batteries and electronics should not be disposed of in household garbage cans. Residents should also be mindful about not recycling foil wrapping paper or plastic gift bags; bows; ribbons; aluminum foil trays or pie tins; single-use plastic; paper or foam plates; cups or cutlery. Plastic-coasted gift cards or battery-embedded cards should also be kept out of curbside recycling.
Cardboard shipping and gift boxes should be empty, flattened and folded for proper recycling. Paper gift wrap and tissue paper can be recycled and should be placed loose in curbside recycling containers rather than deposited in bags or cardboard boxes.
Residents with questions can call (609) 499-1001 or email recycle@co.burlington.nj.us.
