Greeting Cards Alternative ways to recycle Recycling Cart Musical Greeting Cards Contain Mercury Musical greeting cards contain mercury, a dangerous chemical that cannot be put in recycling or the garbage. Find out how to dispose of musical cards. Remove Everything But Paper Before recycling a greeting card, remove parts that have glitter, foil, metal charms, felt cutouts and ribbons. All of these items will contaminate paper recycling. Foil-Lined Envelopes Are Not Recyclable Foil lined envelopes cannot be recycled, so throw them out. Recycle the envelopes of greeting cards as paper. It’s OK to keep stamps and adhesive strips when recycling envelopes or cards. Alternative Ways to Recycle St. Jude’s Recycled Card Program St. Jude’s Ranch for Children operates a recycling program in which the fronts of greeting cards are used to make new cards. They accept all cards except Hallmark, American Greetings and Disney due to copyright laws. Find out how to participate. Ways to Reduce Stick to Simple Cards Avoid purchasing cards that use glitter and foil because these cards are non-recyclable. Also avoid purchasing greeting cards that come with foil-lined envelopes. Switch to E-Cards Sending your cards electronically is not only more economical and timely, but much more environmentally friendly. Make Your Own Cards Making your own card can be done with any number of basic supplies you have lying around. You can save money while giving something more personal and meaningful to the recipient at the same time. Ways to Reuse Turn Greeting Cards Into Gift Tags One way to reuse greeting cards is to turn them into gift tags. Simply cut out any part of the card, write a little note on the back, and use that as a gift tag. Did You Know? The Environmental Impact of Greeting Cards Making and transporting greeting cards has its own carbon footprint on the environment. It is estimated that the average greeting card produces 600 times the carbon dioxide of an email (Verus Carbon Neutral). Americans purchase enough greeting cards to produce the same amount of CO2 as 22,000 cars annually.