The holiday season is a time for sharing cheer and warmth, but it’s also a period when waste production increases significantly. According to BBC News, homes typically produce approximately a third more rubbish during the holidays.
Here are some suggestions to help you have a more eco-friendly and less wasteful Christmas.
Wrapping Paper is t Necessarily Just Paper
Numerous types of wrapping paper contain metallic materials that cannot be recycled, such as glitter, aluminum, or plastic. Use paper from around the house, like paper bags, newspaper, leftover wrapping paper from previous holidays, or even those old maps from the days before GPS, to avoid your wrapping supplies being immediately destined for the trash.
To completely avoid using wrapping paper and make the wrapping part of the gift, use alternate wrapping materials such as a nice piece of fabric, a scarf, or a reusable tote bag.
Crumpling up your wrapping paper can help you determine whether it is recyclable. If it continues to be a ball, it can probably be recycled. If it unfolds right away, it probably contains plastic and should be preserved for later use (and again).
If you’ve decided not to save your used wrapping paper to use on future Christmas gifts, make sure to take anything out of it that isn’t recyclable, such as ribbons, gift tags, and tape, before placing it in the recycling bin.
Leftovers!
It’s crucial to prevent food waste for those who are fortunate enough to make it a focal point of their holiday celebration.
In the United States, 108 billion pounds of food are wasted annually, according to Feed America. 130 billion meals, or $408 billion worth of food, were consumed. In actuality, about 40% of all the food in America is wasted!
We can start with the leftovers from our Christmas gatherings to reduce some of this widespread food waste.
Reduce your food purchases as a first step in preventing food waste over the holidays. Although leftovers are wonderful, planning how much you and your loved ones will actually eat—both at group meals and for that next-day lunch or late-night snack—can help you avoid overstocking the refrigerator and discovering a plate of turkey and cranberry sauce in the trash a month after the event.
Unused food should be put in the refrigerator as soon as possible to extend its shelf life. It may be alluring to leave the holiday table immediately after a meal to watch the game or It’s a Wonderful Life, but delaying the putting away of leftovers until after dark may result in their not lasting as long.
In the few days after everyone has departed and you still have enough food for a dozen people, don’t forget to freeze any leftovers you don’t intend to consume. My father once claimed to have just eaten the turkey from the previous year a week before Thanksgiving, so leftover turkey may definitely be frozen.
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You don’t have to serve the same dish you served at your family gathering or keep to the standard turkey sandwich when eating holiday leftovers. Your leftovers can be used in a variety of inventive ways to breathe new life into them and spice up the meal. Look up a recipe using the primary components, then experiment.
The Tree
The desire for the customary holiday centerpiece that you adorn in your main living area can be satisfied in a number of ways. It doesn’t have to be a tree, and it doesn’t have to be chopped down, for starters. If you want to go, Victorian, build some cranberry or popcorn garlands using compostable string and decorate your house plants with small LED lights and handcrafted ornaments.
After Christmas, you can buy a tree in a pot and plant it outside, but don’t keep it inside for too long.
Mother Earth News advises planting a tree away from heat sources in a cool location for no more than five to seven days. To keep things light and natural, keep the roots damp but not overly wet and decorate with ornaments that won’t put too much strain on the branches, such as dried flowers or seed pods.
According to Everyday Recycler, over 17 million living trees that have been harvested for use as Christmas trees are sold each year, most of which are discarded.
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Curbside recycling is frequently offered if you decide to buy a cut tree, but make sure to take off all the ornaments before putting the tree outdoors. Trees can frequently be shredded, repurposed, and converted into wood chips before being composted.
There is no need to dispose of artificial trees because they can be reused or donated and are not recyclable.
A holiday that is enjoyable and joyful should not result in a lot of excess garbage. The happier the holiday, especially for the earth, the more careful we are of what we use and how we use it.
