For example, instead of ribbon, use compostable twine or rope with a clipping (a twig, eucalyptus or spruce clipping) tucked inside. It’s a rustic look that will hold up even if you wrap things well in advance. You can also place something less sturdy, like flowers or berries, right before handing out the gifts.
Don’t forget the tape
The last thing you want is to make all these adjustments and ruin it by using standard plastic tape that can’t be recycled. Sellotape now offers a plastic-free version of its famous tape, 100% vegetable and fully compostable. Another option is to use paper tape, such as washi tape. They are often presented with beautiful drawings, which can also help decorate brown paper.
Send fewer cards or digitize them
If your family is a big fan of Christmas cards, it can be a difficult habit to break, but about 2.65 billion Christmas cards are sold in the United States each year, and sending one less would save 50,000 cubic yards (more than 38,000 cubic meters) of paper, according to Stanford University.
Plus, today there are fantastic digital options that can be sent to friends and family via email, completely eliminating waste, and that can be sent at the last minute when it’s too late to mail anything. Go the extra mile and talk to your loved ones in advance about the possibility of everyone going digital for greater environmental benefit.
If you don’t want to disrupt family tradition, choose cards with the same care as wrapping paper. Avoid aluminum foil, and look for cards labeled as recyclable. Better yet: Also look for ones made from post-consumer recycled materials. You can even buy cards with seeds that can be planted.
Of course, you only have control over the cards you send. If you receive some cards that are not recyclable, consider saving them and cutting them up to reuse the parts with Christmas symbols as gift tags for next year.
Choose a real Christmas tree, if you have one
It may seem counterintuitive, but even though real trees are only used once before being thrown away, they generate less waste than artificial ones. This is because a real tree can be completely recycled if disposed of correctly, and can be used for things like firewood, wood chips or compost.
Fake trees, on the other hand, are made from materials that cannot be recycled and only end up in landfills when their time to spread Christmas cheer is up. The Carbon Trust estimates that you would have to reuse an artificial tree between seven and 20 times (depending on size) to offset the carbon footprint generated by its manufacturing, packaging and shipping. When you buy the real tree (if you haven’t already), make sure it grows locally, which is the most sustainable option since it doesn’t have to be transported as far.
Decorate it yourself
When it comes to decorating the tree and the house, the same rules apply. Plastic and aluminum foil are banned, and creativity is the best way to reduce waste. If you want great ideas to make at home, I refer you to YouTube, which is full of Christmas decoration tutorials: paper garlands, dreidels of hanging paper, salt dough decorations, a kinara of Kwanzaa and a long etcetera. These decorations may not hold up over time in storage, but they will be completely recyclable and compostable when the holidays are over, meaning you can consciously change colors each year.
Minimizes energy expenditure
The twinkling lights are part of the perfect image of the holidays that many of us imagine when we think about them. NASA has even observed that some parts of Earth are up to 50% brighter between Thanksgiving and New Year’s due to our holiday lighting habits.
The reality is that those beautiful lights are not so beautiful. In the United States alone, the energy used by Christmas lights totals about 6.6 billion kilowatt hours, enough to power 14 million refrigerators and more than the annual electricity consumption of developing countries such as El Salvador and Nepal.
#avoid #waste #holidays
