By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

The day after Christmas will be a busy one for employees of the Hays Solid Waste Division. They’re planning on picking up lots more trash than usual, the shiny remnants of all those holiday gifts and decorations.

Solid Waste Superintendent Marvin Honas hopes the recycling trucks are really busy.  “We encourage Hays residents to recycle as much as they can, particularly boxes,” said Honas.

Honas issued a reminder some things that may be inside cardboard boxes, cannot be recycled in Hays.

“A lot of people leave the styrofoam packing inside the boxes, especially for something like a TV. So we’re encouraging people to remember to remove the styrofoam and any plastic wrapping that a lot of components come in.”

The styrofoam and plastic wrapping has to go into the regular waste collection.

Plastic packaging #1 through #7 that may have contained a retail item can be recycled, as well as all that once-festive, now wadded-up and ripped-up gift wrap, along with Christmas cards and envelopes.

“Christmas wrapping paper is definitely recyclable. We get a lot of extra paper and boxes in the recycling pickups several days after Christmas.”

“We definitely get more (holiday) recyclables and we definitely encourage people to recycle as much as they can,” Honas said.

Thursday and Friday’s collection schedule will be picked up on Friday, Dec. 26.

The volume of household waste in the United States generally increases 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day — about 1 million extra tons, according to the  Environmental Protection Agency.