Hillsborough County: ‘Tis The Season To Recycle

GIBSONTON, FL – The holiday season is a time filled with brightly colored presents, greeting cards and favorite dishes that come around once a year. But it’s also a time of overflowing trash cans from the season’s bounty.

That’s why Hillsborough County is reminding its residents that many discarded items from holiday happenings can be recycled instead of thrown in the trash can. These items include:

• Wrapping paper, as long as it’s free of ribbons, foil and other non-paper items
• Greeting cards
• Flattened corrugated cardboard boxes
• Any paper that’s clean and tears easily
• Glass bottles and jars
• Aluminum, tin and steel cans
• Paperboard food boxes, cereal boxes and paper towel rolls
• Newspaper, junk mail, magazines, office paper, magazines, etc.
• Liquid food containers and gable top cartons, like soy milk, juice boxes, chicken broth, etc.
• Plastic bottles, jugs and containers labeled No. 1-7

Residents are asked to place recyclables in their cart without bagging. All recyclable food containers should be emptied and cleaned before being placed in the recycling cart.

The following items are not permitted in the Hillsborough County blue recycling cart:

• Plastic bags
• Plastic film
• Shrink wrap
• Bubble wrap
• Polystyrene foam or Styrofoam
• Gift bags
• Tissue paper
• Ribbons and bows

Oversized boxes or large quantities of recyclables that exceed the cart capacity can be dropped off Hillsborough County customers for free at any of the county’s community collection centers:

• Hillsborough Heights, 6209 County Road 579, Seffner
• Northwest County, 8001 Linebaugh Ave., Tampa
• South County, 13000 U.S. Highway 41, Gibsonton

The centers are open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

Patch staff photo