Seasonal Information

Let's Reduce Our Waste this Holiday

Spending quality time with loved ones, giving experiences as presents and supporting local shops that offer long-lasting, high-quality gifts are thoughtful and low-waste ways to show others you care this holiday season. We can all help to trim our waste by reducing the amount of garbage we generate, recycle food scraps and giving gift that can be shared unwrapped.

Top low-waste holiday tips for 2021:

• Help those in need: donating to a charitable organization on someone's behalf or sponsoring a family puts your money to good use and helps those who are in need.
• Give experiences as gifts: snow tubing or museum memberships are great for creating shared memories and keeping spaces clutter free.
  
• Give gifts that will last: gifts for the home or everyday use, such as a cooking pan, gardening tool, birdhouse or jewellery, can last years and become cherished gifts.
• Reduce the wrap: avoid the wrapping paper and try reusable options like gift bags, boxes, jars, plant pots, fabrics, newspaper or old maps instead.
• Give the gift of reusables: Reusable items are built to last and make excellent gifts. Richmond’s Single-Use Plastic and Other Items Bylaw No. 10000 comes into effect March 27, 2022 and bans plastic checkout bags, plastic straws and foam food service ware for prepared food. Get ahead of the game! Give the gift of reusable bags, straws and cups.
  

For many more tips, gift ideas and inspirations to minimize waste this holiday season, visit Create Memories Not Garbage. 

Christmas Tree Recycling
There are several ways you can recycle your Christmas tree:

• Drop off at Richmond Recycling Depot located at 5555 Lynas Lane, opens 7 days a week except statutory holidays. 
• Drop off at Ecowaste Industries, 15111 Williams Rd. Call 604-277-1410 for hours of operation.
• Residents with curbside Green Cart collection can cut up and bundle their tree and place it at the curbside for collection on their regular collection day. Please cut and bundle the tree to a maximum size of 3 feet x 2 feet x 4 inches in diameter.
• Support Richmond Fire Fighters Association - IAFF Local 1286 while giving your tree back to nature. The annual Christmas Tree Chipping Event will take place:

Date: Saturday, January 8 and Sunday, January 9, 2022
Time: 9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Location: Parking lot at Garry Point Park parking lot.
Donations are welcome to support Richmond Firefighters Association's charities. Due to COVID-19, volunteers will not retrieve trees from inside vehicles. Residents will be required to take them out themselves or have them strapped to the roof so volunteers can safely assist.

After the holidays: reduce, reuse and recycle
Once the holidays finish, there are still lots of ways to minimize your waste. Reduce, reuse and recycle where you can!

• Use up leftovers or freeze food for later. A lot of resources go into the production of food; don’t let them go to waste. Visit Love Food Hate Waste for ideas on how to use up those leftovers. You can also recycle food scraps and soiled paper in the Green Cart. 
  
• If you have items you no longer want or use, consider donating them to charities or thrift stores. Many of these organizations have easy drop-off or can arrange pick-up free of charge.
• Online orders and gifts can arrive with lots of packaging. If you can’t reuse the materials, you may be able to recycle them. Check the Recycling Wizard to find out how to recycle gift wrap and shipping packaging.