While the winter holiday season brings good cheer for most people, it also
brings a lot more solid waste to the landfill, harm to the environment and
additional debt to the average American family. Here are some
environmentally-smart tips and web site links for a less wasteful -- perhaps
less stressful -- holiday this year:
Remind
Yourself To Tree Cycle
Print this ornament, cut it out and hang it on your tree
to remind yourself to visit
www.EARTH911.org
or call 1-800-CLEANUP when it's time to recycle your
Christmas tree.
Check out all the great
links below!!! #1 link
42 Ways to Trim Your Holiday Waste
#2 link
EPA Holiday Green Travel Tips
#3 link
EPA Recycling Tips for a Tech Savvy Holiday
Every year, there are
2.65 billion holiday cards sold in the U.S. That's enough to fill a
football stadium field 10 stories high! Please look for cards that
contain recycled content or are actually recycled materials. You can
make your own cards out of scrap paper found around the house. You
could use old cards as name tags for presents or for colorful artwork to
decorate your house. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Wrapping paper is often used once and thrown away. Try using
colorful pages torn from magazines to wrap small gifts, and old
maps or the Sunday comics for larger boxes. Avoid using paper
entirely by using reusable decorative tins, baskets or boxes. If
you do buy wrapping paper, look for ones made of recycled
paper. Reusable cloth ribbons can be used in place of plastic
bows. Finally, unwrap gifts carefully and save wrappings for
reuse next year.
If you buy gifts, look for durable and re-usable items and resist
the latest "fad" at the mall. Think of how many pet rocks, mood
rings, and cabbage patch dolls ended up in the landfill!
Look for gifts with an environmental message: a nature book, a
refillable thermos bottle, a canvas tote bag, a battery recharger
or items made from recycled materials. Choose solar powered
instead of battery powered products. Or better yet, ones that
require no power at all.
Americans throw away about 25% more trash
between
Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve. That's an additional 5 million tons of garbage!
Other environmentally-smart gifts include homemade ones:
homebaked cookies, bread or jams, a plant or tree. Ones that don't create any
waste at all: concert or movie tickets, dinner at
a restaurant, or an IOU to help rake leaves or repair a leaky faucet. Ones that get "used up": candles,
soap, or seeds for next year's garden.
If you go out shopping, bring your own tote bags and avoid
coming home with an armload of plastic bags holding just one
item.
If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in
re-used materials, it would save enough paper to
cover 45,000 football fields.
You are probably receiving piles of mail order catalogs at this
time of year. Call the company's 800 number and ask that you
be removed from their mailing list. Fortunately, magazines and
catalogs can be recycled at local recycling centers.
It takes an average of 6 months for a credit card
user to pay off their holiday debt.
If you send holiday cards, look for ones made of recycled paper.
Avoid cards with glossy, shiny or gold foil coatings since these
cannot be recycled. Save the cards that you get in the mail, cut
off the front pictures, and reuse as "postcards" next year. This
saves on postage too. Or, send ''electronic cards'' or make a
phone call instead!
For tree trimmings, try edible or compostable items like popcorn or cranberries on a string, gingerbread cookies or items made
from "found" objects around your home.
Here are some websites to
California
Integrated Waste Management Board Holiday Page
New links for
2007!!!
NRDC: Gift Giving Guide
Nature Gift Ideas
Environmental Defense Green Gift Guide
Organic Consumers Association
Waste Online: Cutting Down on Christmas Waste
New links for
2006!!!
Clemson Extension Guide to buying and growing a live Christmas Tree
New links for
2005!!!
Sierra Club Green Gift Ideas
New links for 2004!!!
Christmas
Worms
University
of Oregon Eco-Tips Page
New links for 2003!!!
Grinch
Recycling Tale
Remind
Yourself To Tree Cycle
Print this ornament, cut it out and hang it on your
tree to remind yourself to visit www.EARTH911.org
or call 1-800-CLEANUP when it's time to
recycle your Christmas tree.
Earth
911 South Carolina Page
National
Christmas Tree Association
100
Ways to Escape from Affluenza
Earth
Share
With careful thought, it is possible to reduce waste, conserve resources and
promote environmental protection during this busy season.
Thank you to Erica Spiegel of the University of Vermont for
web page content.
Tips for a "Green" Holiday Season
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