The holidays can be extremely wasteful: Each year, Americans use around 8,000 tons of wrapping paper, equal to roughly 50,000 trees. It has been documented that 2.3 million pounds of wrapping paper end up in landfills since gift wrapping is made out of hard-to-recycle mixed materials. According to the Sierra Club, “because it’s called wrapping paper, many people attempt to do the right thing by adding it to their recycling bin, inadvertently contaminating the whole batch and landing everything, even the genuinely recyclable objects sitting in the bin, in a landfill.” It’s not only wrapping paper that is the problem but also the bows, ribbons, tinsel, and some Christmas Cards that end up in the landfill.
Here are a few suggestions on how to be sustainable during the holidays:
For wrapping paper, use newspapers, fabric, paper bags, maps, even butcher paper from your store-bought wrapped meat or fish. Decorate with your kids using magic markers, crayons, and paints, but not glitter. Dress it up with string/twine and a sprig of rosemary, cinnamon, or pine.
For your leftover holiday greens (but no wreaths or garlands), take them to Dandelion Hill Farm, 204 Hulett Hill Rd., Sheffield. They must still be green, tinsel free, and not sprayed. Drop off days are December 27 to January 12, at their greenhouse. If you cut down or buy a live tree, ask your nursery how to replant it.
For decorations, make a popcorn garland or glue popsicle sticks or cinnamon sticks glue to form a star. Cut out tree shapes or round ornament shapes from colored paper or felt.
Instead of buying gifts, make a photo collage or a recipe book of your favorite recipes, or buy local crafts, reusable baskets, or containers of local cheeses or a gift certificate to an event.
