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Ten tips for a green holiday season
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Hallmarks of the approaching holidays are often expressed with mailboxes stuffed with advertising circulars, catalogues and Christmas cards. The disposable season is upon us. By reducing, reusing and recycling, you can diminish the amount of waste created by the holidays. Tons of boxes, wrapping paper and other non-biodegradable items clog landfills as well as raise demand for petroleum-based plastic items that are abundant during the next few months. Here are ten ways to have a green holiday.
#1 Plan your shopping route. To reduce emissions and save fuel, plan your route ahead of time so you’re not doubling back on your shopping trip. You’ll save time and money, and lower the impact on air quality. Or, you could buy online. Purchasing items means shipping directly from distributors or the factory and will reduce freight impacts.
#2 Reusable bags. If you are out shopping, take your own bags with you.
#3 Earth-friendly gifting. Consider the type of gifts you’re giving. Do they come with excessive packaging? Can you find the right gift that is also free-trade, organic or locally manufactured? Instead of physical gifts, think of gift cards for restaurants or events like movie tickets, or a service. Or give to the charity of your recipient’s choice.
#4 Rechargeable batteries. Batteries do not belong in the landfill, but each year 3 billion find their way into the garbage. The production of portable power isn’t eco-friendly and disposable batteries are anything but. They leech harmful chemicals into the ground and take decades to break down. Many gifts require batteries, so consider investing in rechargeables to reduce the demand on disposables and save you money long-term.
#5 Holiday cards. How long do you keep your holiday cards? And once the holidays are over and you’re removing decorations from your mantle, what do you do with them? Toss them into the garbage? Consider recycling them, or reusing them for next year’s decorations. A craft project for the family can be to cut out the beautiful card covers with pinking sheers and pasting a magnet on the back to decorate your refrigerator with for the next holiday season. If you’re sending cards this year, think about the millions of eco-friendly e-cards that are free online.
#6 Wrapping. Even though many of us have recycling bins, thousands of pounds of wrapping, bows and boxes find their way into landfills rather than recycling centers. Some types of wrapping can’t be recycled because of the materials it is made with. Most of us reuse bows each year, no matter how crumpled and sad they may look, but consider using household items such as fabric to wrap gifts with this year. Or, instead of fabric bows and wrapping, consider a rustic look with recycled paper bags from your grocer and hemp twine. To brighten a package, reuse those holiday circulars or Sunday newspaper as gift wrap.
#7 Holiday tree. Every Christmas, do you pine for the earthy and spicy scent of a fresh-cut fir in your living room, or do you drag out and dust off the artificial tree? Two schools of thought revolve around live versus fake trees. One, that the Christmas tree industry is renewable, however if you consider the resources it takes to grow and nurture, only to kill a perfectly healthy tree, versus a petroleum-based plastic tree and the process it takes to produce and ship it, may leave you feeling, well, less than joyous. Consider purchasing a live tree. It may not even be a traditional Christmas tree—maybe a Festivus Ficus?—but, it can still be decorated and loved, and then planted in your yard once the season is over.
#8 Christmas lights. Having the most-decorated house on the block might win you a spot on the nightly news, but what about your electricity bill? Eco-friendly lighting decorations exist that are solar, LED, or available with timers so you don’t waste as much energy with traditional set ups.
#9 Decorations. Holiday decorations is a billion dollar a year industry. Workmanship is often shoddy, the item disposable, or manufactured in a far away place that costs energy and money to ship to you, as well as containing materials or processes that are not eco-friendly. Consider using décor from nature. Gather and decorate pine-cones, string popcorn, and dry some berry branches or collect holly to bring an organic touch to your decorating this year. Be sure to keep certain items (such as holly and mistletoe), organic or otherwise, away from little ones and your pets as some may be harmful.
#10 Holiday feasts. Purchasing a vacuum sealer can save you hundreds of dollars at the end of the year in food that is saved from turning into a science experiment in your refrigerator. Or, start a compost bin or worm garden and toss in your scraps to make rich mulch for your plants.
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