The large recycling and trash bins signal a push for a sustainable start to 2026. Glass bottles, debris, and cardboard boxes left from holiday celebrations are difficult to recycle, but a new approach has been introduced by the executive and founding director of Live Thrive, Peggy Whitlow Ratcliffe. Rather than sending all the waste to landfills, many of these items still carry real value, according to recycling experts across the industry.
Peggy said that putting everything into a garbage bag is a missed opportunity, as properly disposing of certain items can lead to meaningful change and innovation. Live Thrive operates as a hub for hard-to-recycle materials, commonly known as CHaRM. The CHaRM accepts items that traditional recycling programs cannot process. Whitlow Ratcliffe explained, “We accept all the items that curbside bins refuse to take.”
The post-holiday items that cannot be a part of standard recycling bins, such as artificial Christmas trees, cooking grease, wine corks, foam packaging, electrical cords, old holiday lights, wrapping paper with glitter or foil, Styrofoam, shipping envelopes with bubble wrap, Styrofoam food containers, and glass bottles, will soon get a solution. At CHaRM, the workers’ team segregates these materials so they can be used for a certain significant purpose rather than just dumping them into the landfills.
Ratcliffe gave an example of Christmas lights, saying that they are important as they have copper in them. She said, “These lights do have more value than regular normal lights. So these lights can be kept separate for some repurpose, as they have a lot of copper in them that can be effectively recycled. The artificial trees can also be recycled even if they're pre-lit, but once they come off, they cannot be recycled. The frames (green branches) are recyclable.”
She continued, “Styrofoam is a second priority for recycling as it does not break down in landfills and remains as it is, biodegraded. At our workplace, the foam is shrunk and prepared for reuse. We have a promising machine that cleans and sets Styrofoam blocks for new insulation so that they can be recycled. In 2024, the program was successful in collecting over 37,000 Christmas trees that turned into mulch for playgrounds, individual homes, and municipal projects.”
23 January 2026
23 January 2026
23 January 2026
23 January 2026