County recycles holiday trees
To help make the holidays greener, the Department of Environmental Management’s Solid Waste Division will again offer “Treecycling.”
Between Dec. 26 and Jan. 20, residential customers may leave trees in the designated areas (not in the rubbish chutes) during normal business hours, at any county landfill or transfer station (excluding Milolii and Ocean View transfer stations). Trees should be free from all decorations, stands, lights, tinsel and ornaments.
Please do not drop off artificial or flocked trees in the designated areas. Any flocked trees, artificial trees or trees with tinsel are not recyclable and may be disposed of in the regular trash chutes.
Christmas drive collects 10K shoeboxes
‘Tis the season and Operation Christmas Child is in full swing at the Hawaii Police Department. Total shoe boxes collected around the Big Island is 10,827.
Project Operation Christmas Child collects shoebox gifts — filled with fun toys, school supplies, and hygiene items — and delivers them to children in need around the world. For many of these children, the gift-filled shoebox is the first gift they have ever received.
Since 1993, Operation Christmas Child, the world’s most massive Christmas project of its kind, has collected and delivered more than 146 million shoebox gifts to children in more than 160 countries and territories.
In 2017, Operation Christmas Child hopes to collect enough shoebox gifts to reach another 12 million children in countries like Peru, the Philippines, Rwanda, and Ukraine. Nearly 11.5 million shoebox gifts were collected worldwide in 2016, with more than 9.1 million received in the U.S.