Trees, lights, wrappings: How to dispose of your holiday haul

The city of Sioux Falls has some reminders as you prepare to clean up this holiday season.

The city will open two Christmas tree recycling drop sites from Dec. 26 to  Jan. 4. Hours for both sites will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The service is free and available to residents of Sioux Falls and the five-county region served by the Sioux Falls Regional Landfill: Lincoln, Lake, McCook, Minnehaha and Turner counties.

Locations:

• West of the Household Hazardous Waste Facility: 1015 E. Chambers St., just off North Cliff Avenue.
• North Lyon Boulevard: 200 Lyons Blvd., south of the fairgrounds near West 12th Street.

Artificial, flocked or fake trees, along with plastic bags, stumps, rubble and household garbage are not accepted at the drop sites. All lights, ornaments, decorations and stands must be removed before dropping off trees. The drop sites are not open to businesses, farms, nonprofits, churches, schools or institutions.

Collected trees will be ground with other branches and repurposed as mulch. For information, visit siouxfalls.gov/landfill.

Post-holiday recycling 

Cardboard packaging, wrapping paper, paper gift boxes, greeting cards and paper envelopes can be recycled if they do not contain glitter, foil, metallic elements or plastic coatings. Be sure to remove all bows and ribbons.

Empty metal holiday cookie tins, gravy jars, broth cartons, yam cans, pie tins and aluminum foil are all accepted in your recycling bin. Remember to place items loose in the bin, and do not bag your recyclables. Do not put plastic bags, packaging film, bubble wrap or Styrofoam in your recycling bin. For information on what items are accepted for recycling, visit siouxfalls.gov/recycle.

Holiday lights and used electronics are accepted for recycling at the city’s Household Hazardous Waste Facility. Visit siouxfalls.gov/hhwf to find out all materials accepted at this facility.

The Household Hazardous Waste Facility is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and is located at 1015 E. Chambers St. Like the tree drop sites, it is free for residents of Sioux Falls and Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha and Turner counties. Materials from nonresidential properties such as businesses, farms, nonprofits, churches, schools or institutions are not accepted at the facility.

Sign up for snow alerts

Here’s one more step for the winter ahead: Text SNOWALERT to 888-777 to receive notifications directly to your phone when the city issues a snow alert. Learn more about the city’s snow clearing operations at siouxfalls.gov/snow.