Boxing Day. It is a day of post-turkey lethargy. It is a day for riding the couch, book in hand, pot of tea at the ready. It's a belly-rubbing sort of day. Visiting taken care of, relatives out of your hair, it is a day to finally rest. The tree is pretty from your view on the couch. The balled up shreds of wrapping paper offer a festive, if slightly messy reminder of the annual Christmas haul. It doesn't really seem like the time to be thinking about disposing of it all…

But Boxing Day is short lived and, even in the most slow-paced of lives, the Christmas trimmings must be cleared. In my household, this usually occurs around Valentine's Day. The clearing of these trimmings usually generates quite a bit of garbage.

The best means of getting rid of Christmas waste is by producing less of it. Using reusable gift bags, buying local products with little packaging and creating decorations out of compost-able material (popcorn, cranberries, dried citrus fruit) are all effective ways of cutting back on waste.

But as much as you cut back, there is still usually some extra trash produced during the holiday season. I would like to share with you some recommendations for holiday waste disposal.

Remember the three R's in order. "By reducing the amount you consume, you reduce the amount of waste created. Reusing is also great. It increases the lifespan of a product and also makes for less waste. Recycling is a much better option than landfill, but does use quite a bit of energy."

Here's some advice on how to get rid of much of the refuse. Much of the Christmas waste is recyclable. Wrapping paper, tissue paper, boxes, cardboard wrapping tubes and most greeting cards can be put in the blue box. If you have large quantities of cardboard, I recommend dropping it off at the recycling depot at the MTO yard. ! You can drop off cardboards 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Those guys in the recycling trucks have an awful lot to collect during the holidays so keep that option in mind.

Plastic blister packs cannot be recycled, though the cardboard can be removed and put into the blue box. Plastic bubble wrap, while amusing to pop, is no fun for the environment. It too is non-recyclable.

As for Christmas trees, they can usually be dropped off at a drop site in town to be recycled by a local service club, last year I believe it was the snow mobile club. Be sure to remove all decorations. Christmas tree drop off is usually during early January, look for the Brockton Buzz to provide more details of when and where.

But these recommendations can wait a day or so.... Boxing Day happens but once a year and turkey can slow a body mightily. Enjoy the tea. Clean up tomorrow!