OSWEGO COUNTY — With the holiday season underway, the Oswego County Department of Solid Waste is reminding residents that most wrapping papers are recyclable, and both Christmas trees and gift wraps are accepted at county waste facilities.
Paper gift wrap is recyclable and can be disposed of as part of single-stream, unsorted recycling at the county’s transfer stations or via residential curbside waste pickup. There is no need to separate wrapping paper from other recyclables, such as plastic, glass and metals, according to the Department of Solid Waste.
“Wrapping paper can be delivered to a transfer station recyclable building or trailer like any other paper, or it can be recycled together with the other recyclables that a resident puts out for their hauler,” said Oswego County Solid Waste Operations Manager Carl Schmidt.
Certain metallic papers and those with glitters or velvet-like flocking are not recyclable and should be disposed of with household trash. Bows, ribbons and related gift-wrapping items are also not recyclable and should be reused or thrown away with household trash.
“Metallic wrapping paper is any paper with a metal foil in it,” Schmidt said, adding that not all shiny paper is metallic and colored or patterned wraps that are glossy like magazine paper are recyclable.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends purchasing gift wrap that can be recycled, or wrapping papers made from recycled content. EPA also encourages consumers to use alternatives like newspaper, and to reuse gift bags, boxes and tissue paper.
Christmas trees can be disposed of at the County’s Bristol Hill, Hannibal, Hastings and Pulaski transfer stations free of charge. The Oswego transfer station will not accept trees. Artificial trees can be disposed of as normal household trash at any transfer station using a residential tipping sticker or through weigh-and-pay disposal.
The Oswego County Department of Solid Waste operates five transfer stations in addition to the energy recovery facility and Bristol Hill Landfill and Materials Recovery Facility.
The county transfer station locations are as follows:
Bristol Hill, 3125 NYS-3, Fulton, phone 315-591-9211. (Closed Tuesdays and Fridays)
Hannibal, 1167 Co. Rte. 7, Hannibal, phone 315-564-5623. (Closed Mondays and Thursdays)
Hastings, 1391 US-11, Hastings, phone 315-668-8821. (Closed Mondays and Wednesdays)
Oswego, 700 E. Seneca St., Oswego, phone 315-349-3439. (Closed Wednesdays and Fridays)
Pulaski, 100 Co. Rte. 2A, Pulaski, phone 315-298-6062. (Closed Tuesdays and Thursdays)
Transfer stations are open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon. Scales, bag and sticker sales close at 3:30 p.m. weekdays and 11:30 a.m. Saturdays. For more information on the county solid waste facilities visit www.oswegocounty.com/solidwaste.
Effective Dec. 13, New York State requires that masks be worn in all indoor public places unless businesses or venues implement a full-course vaccination requirement. Oswego County government requires that masks be worn inside all county government facilities.
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