Recycle wrap or not?

The holidays are over, and a mountain of brightly colored papers is piled around your house. Do you chuck it in the garbage or can any of this mess be recycled? Unfortunately, the answer isn't easy. It depends on what kind of wrapping paper you have and where you live.

If you can rescue any of the pieces, do what my mom always encouraged -- reuse the paper next year. Carefully take off the bits of tape, roll or fold the paper up, and store it for the following holiday. Ribbons and bows (especially fancy ones) are easy to save and reuse too, and paper gift bags are the hardiest of all.

But if the kids ripped the wraps already, start by sorting out the metallic and foil papers. Those are the ones least likely to be recycled. Also remove tape, ribbons, bows, and any of those cute decorations some folks attach.

Now, can you recycle? Ultimately, you'll need to ask your local waste management utility because acceptance can vary on a state, county, and city level.

For example, the whole state of California lists gift wrapping paper as recyclable. West Valley Collection which serves parts of the south San Francisco bay area in CA specifies "no metallic/foil" wraps.

Wake County, North Carolina recycles wrapping paper (no bows or foil), and so does Greenville, North Carolina.

Wrapping paper gets recycled in New York City and Onondaga County, New York.

Even tissue paper is recycled with wrapping paper in Roswell, Georgia, and Montgomery County, Maryland. This is rather unusual because, as Eco-Cycle in Colorado notes, tissue paper has weak fibers and doesn't provide much to recycle. At least someone's taking it.

However, no wrapping papers at all are accepted in the recycling bins of Austin, Texas; Dakota County, Minnesota; Louisville, Kentucky; and Springfield, Massachusetts.

These are just a few municipalities I found on the Web. Search for the name of your recycling department online or look in the phone book. And next holiday season, consider eco-friendly wraps that lessen the garbage from the outset.

While you're at it, don't forget to recycle your Christmas tree -- Earth 911 lists places to do this nationwide.