DENVER — Denver Public Works will not recycle wrapping paper this year.
Brent Hildebrand, a spokesperson for Green For Life (GFL), which is the city's waste and recycling processing plant, said due to stricter quality paper guidelines and restrictions, they can no longer recycle the paper. Wrapping paper will need to be tossed in the trash.
In the last 14 years, GFL has collected wrapping paper, but they did not accept the shiny paper with glitter, metal, or metallic material and bows or ribbon. Yet, it often ended up in the recycling bin, making the sorting process difficult.
"You had all kinds of issues, you had some of the shiny material, the shiny wrapping paper that was mixed in and bows and ribbons and those have never been accepted," Hildebrand said.
He said because the wrapping paper is low quality, the fibers don't break down as quickly as newspapers or magazines.
However, you can recycle your wrapping paper in Longmont at the Waste Diversion Center now through Jan. 5.
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Denver Public Works is encouraging people to reuse wrapping paper for other occasions or use alternatives like craft or newspapers to wrap gifts.