BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — It’s the most wonderful time of the year, but not for all.
“Christmas time, most wasteful time of year," said Kern County Public Works Manager Chuck Magee.
Between wrapping paper, Christmas decorations, tinsel and ribbon, there's a lot that goes into making this holiday season festive. Most of which ends up in a landfill come January.
“Most people on Christmas morning, everyone has a trash bag, and everything goes in the trash bag and the trash bag goes to the curb and that's the end of it," Magee said. “The thing that kills us is most people, they swap it all into one big bag and throw in into the trash.”
Magee says while year-round most people are mindful to sort their trash, during the holidays that usual mindfulness turns into carelessness. In the end, the haste means extra burden for waste management workers.
“If a thousand people throw all that stuff into their one container bag and throw it in the trash, then it shows up, someone has to do that work a thousand times," Magee said.
Some reminders when it comes to the holidays recyclables like wrapping paper, paper plates, and plastic containers, should all go in the blue bin. Things like utensils, ribbons, and bows should always go in the brown trash bin, especially if it has glitter.
“Glitter isn’t something that you can get out of a system so it will contaminate any process you put it in," said Magee.
Since the trash cycle never ends landfill workers work through the holidays to keep up with increased demand.
“If you just do it right, it makes it so fast and easy. If you do it wrong, it really gums up the work, slows down the process," Magee said. "[It] causes people, which are hard to get nowadays, to actually have to spend a lot more time doing something that you should have done at home.”
