Tacoma residents, take note: city offices and facilities are rolling into holiday mode with scheduled closures for the upcoming Christmas and New Year's celebrations. According to a recent announcement from the City of Tacoma, administrative offices will be closed on December 25 and January 1, giving city workers a break to observe Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Waste collection services are also taking a hiatus on these holidays, so don’t bank on any garbage, recycling, or yard/food waste pickup—instead, the Tacoma Recovery & Transfer Center, alongside the Recycle Center and Household Hazardous Waste Facility, won't be operational on December 25 and January 1 all curbside collection will shift one day forward for the rest of those weeks, and that means residents who usually see their refuse collected on Fridays will have to wait until Saturday.
Bibliophiles should plan their library visits accordingly: all Tacoma Public Library branches will shutter their doors not just on the holidays, but December 24 is thrown into the mix as well. Amid the sweeping quietness of the closed libraries and the stillness of the inactive transfer stations, there remains a drop of holiday cheer—no parking enforcement will be patrolling on December 25 and January 1, so feel free to park without pause for thought on those designated days.
While the Recycle Center encourages eco-conscious habits, it draws the line at wrapping paper, asking citizens to chuck these often glitter-laden and ribbon-twined papers into the standard garbage containers; the green ones meant for regular trash, holiday tidiness demands this, considering that the Recycle Center’s sorting systems can't quite handle the festive wrapping paper, so keeping them out of the recycling loop is just the kind of sensible behavior that makes the post-holiday cleanup slightly less burdensome for the city’s sanitation departments.
