#1: Wrap gifts in newspaper (comics are great for some fun wrapping!) or brown paper grocery bags, rather than using wrapping paper. It's a great way to reuse, and the materials are more recyclable.
#2: Avoid metallic or foil wrapping paper because they use more resources to manufacture and often can't be recycled.
#3: Bring your own bags when gift/food shopping. You may want to ask for reusable bags as a holiday gift. The best kind are those that fold in on themselves for easy transport. Stash them in your purse or backpack after use so you're never without them!
#4: Skip the gift box, unless you're reusing one from last year. Often they aren't necessary, they use energy to be produced, and they generate more waste with all that tissue paper. (Of course you can solve the trash issue by reusing boxes and saving tissue paper--see tip #5!)
#5: Salvage wrapping paper, tissue paper, boxes and bows. Rather than rip paper open, undo it carefully, remove the tape so it doesn't stick to itself, and neatly fold it to a manageable size. Stash it in a gift bag and save it for next year. AVHS Environmental Club secretary Melissa started this last year, and managed to wrap all of her friend's gifts with reused paper this year. (See her blog post about it here. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see the tips.)
#6: If you have a Christmas tree, recycle it. Contact your local garbage collecting service to find out if they have a tree recycling program. Many will pick it up from your curb.
#2: Avoid metallic or foil wrapping paper because they use more resources to manufacture and often can't be recycled.
#3: Bring your own bags when gift/food shopping. You may want to ask for reusable bags as a holiday gift. The best kind are those that fold in on themselves for easy transport. Stash them in your purse or backpack after use so you're never without them!
#4: Skip the gift box, unless you're reusing one from last year. Often they aren't necessary, they use energy to be produced, and they generate more waste with all that tissue paper. (Of course you can solve the trash issue by reusing boxes and saving tissue paper--see tip #5!)
#5: Salvage wrapping paper, tissue paper, boxes and bows. Rather than rip paper open, undo it carefully, remove the tape so it doesn't stick to itself, and neatly fold it to a manageable size. Stash it in a gift bag and save it for next year. AVHS Environmental Club secretary Melissa started this last year, and managed to wrap all of her friend's gifts with reused paper this year. (See her blog post about it here. Scroll to the bottom of the post to see the tips.)
#6: If you have a Christmas tree, recycle it. Contact your local garbage collecting service to find out if they have a tree recycling program. Many will pick it up from your curb.
Happy Holidays from AVHS Environmental Club!
I've got a great + super simple tip. The next time you're purchasing a gift card-- go for the electronic (and paperless) option, an eGift card. Each year, 75 millions lbs of PVC is dumped into landfills from plastic gift card waste (Plenty Magazine). That's an astronomical amount of waste for something that can easily and conveniently be sent virtually. PVC is notoriously difficult to recycle and cannot be tossed into the recycling bin along side your other household items. You must send those pesky plastic cards to a PVC recycling plant, the only one I know of is EarthWorks. For a directory of retailers that offer an eGift card, try http://www.giftzip.com ...it is the most extensive one I have found to date. Hope that helped. :)
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