Law enforcement caution residents to be mindful when getting rid of holiday trash

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Miss (WCBI) – Before Christmas, you worry about thieves stealing packages from your porch. After Christmas, you worry about them watching your trash to find what’s new inside your house.

Post-holiday wrapping paper can leave a trail for uninvited guests.

Local authorities said how you dispose of it can keep you from becoming a target.

“Don’t give criminals the opportunity. Crime happens because of opportunity,” said Columbus Police Chief  Fred Shelton.

With gifts opened and wrapping paper bagged on the curb, those big-ticket items can make you an easy target for a potential home burglary.

“It puts out an advertisement that hey I got something of value and now most good ppl will just ride by and say oh they got a new TV but the bad guy will say hey this is an opportunity to steal something new. Because again one of the things is if we take and leave things out there people know that we got it,” said Shelton.

He stresses to be proactive.

“Once you take it out, record the serial number, take and dispose of the wrapping and the paper and again put it in some bags or tear it down. Even better yet, recycle it,” said Shelton.

If you want to keep it off the street altogether, consider recycling.

Calvin Ware heads the sanitation for the city of Starkville and said recycling is at its all-time high during the month of December.

“Our recycling is going to be up because you know its Christmas and we get boxes, so yes we get more boxes around this time of year,” said Ware.

While many Starkville residents have the small green sanitation boxes at their house they can bring those bigger boxes that they open for Christmas right here to the Starkville sanitation department.

“You can recycle all boxes. We take all boxes including a 50-inch screen TV coming in, we will take the boxes,” said Ware.

But there are certain items that cannot be recycled.

“We do not take the bows that come off the Christmas wrap or the Christmas paper. We only would like our citizens of Starkville to recycle the milk cartons, the boxes, and we love newspapers,” said Ware.

Law enforcement encouraged people to write down the serial number to the new items they get this year.