Christmas brings families together and provides fun for young and old alike. However, the extra work at home, the extra money spent on all those gifts, and the mess left by wrapping and decorations can cause some real strain as you go into the New Year.
Luckily, recycling can prove a great solution to all of these problems if you think creatively. By recycling everything the holidays leave behind, you can keep the environment thriving for many Christmases to come—and if you find the right things, you can even put some extra cash in your pocket.
Scrap Metal Recycling After Christmas
Know anyone who has a metal tree stand? These are often made of iron, and can be worth some money because of their weight. There are also plenty of other great opportunities for recycling just after Christmas.
For example, all those lights and extension cords that have finally given out can be sold as insulated wire. While this may not net you a fortune, it can at the least make buying replacements for next year a bit easier!
In addition to netting you a little cash, recycling electrical wire can have a huge benefit for the environment because so much of it simply goes to the landfill—and because mining new metal for wire isn’t cheap or great for the Earth.
Some tree ornaments, too, are made of valuable metals like brass and aluminum. If you find that you simply have too many ornaments, you could see if any of them are worth anything. Older ornaments are more likely to have scrap metal value, but all of them are at the least worth looking into.