At Island Return It, we see a surge of extra recycling coming in after Christmas. We are happy to help and are always looking for ways to make recycling easier for everyone. Here are a few of our favourite tips to make your holiday season’s recycling go smoothly.

Wrapping paper can be recycled, just make sure it isn’t mixed paper with foil, glitter or heavy inks, and please keep tape to a minimum (or how about exploring some youtube tutorials on how to wrap without using tape? It’s easy once you get the hang of it). And please remove ribbons and tags from your wrapping to keep recycling batches from being rejected.

And of course, we are ready for all your extra glass and aluminum recycling (including drink boxes and gable tops containers) with our 10 cent return program. This year, we are extra excited to launch our automated Tomra sorting machine (called a RVM) to handle all your glass and aluminum returns. Bring your refundables in out of the cold weather, and sort them indoors using the RVM. We are confident you will love it. Merry Christmas indeed.

Following the holidays, a lot of you will have new electronics; the latest household appliances, power tools and personal devices to name a few. That means you’ll be wanting to responsibly dispose of your over the hill and damaged electronics. Luckily there is a program in place to help you recycle (and reuse components) from these broken items, and we have 2 Island Return It Centres in the Cowichan Valley where you can drop them off. Here’s a list of a just some of electronics you can bring to our Duncan and Cobble Hill depots. Jump online to see the whole list at Islandreturnit.com/We-Recycle.

1.  Electric Toothbrushes

2.  Electronic Scales

3.  Computer Cables

4.  Electric Musical Instruments

5.  Amplifiers and Receivers

6.  Christmas Twinkle Lights

7.  Cd players, Turntables, Cds, Cassettes & Vinyl Records

8.  Fax machines/ Photocopiers/ Printers & Small Ink Cartridges (No Toners please)

9.  Hearing Aids, Blood Pressure Monitors & Thermometers

10. Electronic Key Chain

– Wrap gifts with maps or large colourful brochures

– Try skipping the tape by tightly creasing your wrapping folds and secure with reusable festive ribbon

– Reuse gift tags yearly or attach a family photo of the recipient

– Make paper snowflake gift tags, then hang them on the windows Christmas afternoon.

– Plain brown paper tied with a beautiful ribbon, with a sprig of greenery is always a favourite. Names can be written directly on the paper

Thank you for recycling, and enjoy this very merry holiday season.

From all of us at Island Return It.