Keep the Holidays Merry & Green
The holidays are full of joy and plenty, but with gifts and get-togethers in abundance, it’s easy to create a lost of waste. Leftovers that don’t get eaten, clutter around the house, and ripped up wrapping paper often make its way to the trash can. According to the CDC, “Americans throw away about 25% more trash between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve.” With dire climate change reports and stories making their way to headlines daily, it’s important to think about how each of us can reduce the amount of trash we create. Here are some tips I use to keep my holiday waste low during the season!
Wrap your gifts with reusable materials! Use gift bags and old tissue paper you’ve hung onto, reuse paper shopping bags (A Starbucks or Anthropologie bag work perfectly), wrap with newspaper, wrap a gift with a scarf, or get creative! My mom, the one who gave me her passion for creativity and sustainability, has taken to wrapping gifts in plastic vegetable containers. She takes the empty spinach box, places the gift inside tissue paper inside the container, and puts a little square of wrapping paper on the top. She then adds ribbon around the whole thing and voila! She also takes normal gift boxes, and instead of wrapping the entire thing, she only puts wrapping paper on top. The effect is really pretty, and it saves paper! Both of my mom’s gift wrapping techniques are pictured down below. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in reused materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.
Make sure to salvage any reusable gift wrap, tissue paper, or gift bags after presents have been opened. On Christmas day, I always spend around 30 minutes after all the gifts have been opened to smooth out and fold all the tissue paper to be reused for the next holiday season. This extra step can be a little tedious after a morning of festivities, but I always remind myself that our Earth will appreciate the extra effort.
Give gifts that last. When shopping, I often see silly items that would make my friends and family giggle, but I have to stop myself to think about the longevity of the gift. Will this item garner a couple laughs when received but head straight to the trash or a backshelf of a closet afterwards? If so, I usually pass and look for a gift that will actually be useful. If you’re looking for a funny gift that will also be useful, check out Buzzfeed gift guides or stores like UncommonGoods.
Holidays often bring guests into the home which means it’s time to clean and declutter. Instead of throwing out everything that’s no longer useful (clothes, toys, furniture, etc.), make a pile to donate to local charities! If you want your donations to make a difference, do your research and look for local organizations that truly want your items. Some organizations that might fit the bill include Baby2Baby, Vietnam Veterans of America, or Dress for Success. If you just want the stuff out of your house quickly, there’s always Goodwill and Salvation Army.
“About 35% of Americans have an unused Christmas present collecting dust in their closets” (CDC). Have gifts that you’ve received, but don’t think you’re going to use them? Donate them as well! It’s always unfortunate to have a gift you’ve gotten go untouched, but donating it means it has a better chance of it getting appreciated. Of course you can always regift the item. Regifting can feel a little bit shady, but if you know someone else will love it more, where’s the harm in that?
Buy holiday decorations that will last over the years. Whether you’re decorating your dorm room, apartment, or house, try to buy holiday decorations that will get used again. Whether this is a fake tree, Christmas towels, or garland, always think about the future life of the item. Also, have old Christmas lights that don’t work anymore? Don’t throw them out, recycle them! There’s a lot of dangerous materials in those lights like mercury and led, so we don’t want those leaching into our water or ground from the landfill. Check if your local city’s waste office will take them or research other places that will take them. Bulbcycle and Christmas Light Source are two good options to recycle your lights.
If possible, try to buy gifts in stores instead of online to reduce packaging. Also, if you have a choice, try to buy items with less packaging, so there’s less that makes its way to the trash in the end.
Family dinners and Christmas parties bring about delicious appetizers, meals, and desserts. Try to get people to take as much food with them as possible at the end, and make a strong effort to finish all the leftovers. About 150,000 tons of food gets tossed out in US households daily, so plan ahead to try to reduce your own contribution to this number.
Going green for the holidays can be tough, but your contribution to a more sustainable Earth is important. I wish you a merry and green holiday!
