Tips on How to Fill Your November and December with Holiday Recycling and Reducing
November and December are two of the busiest months of the year. They are loaded with holidays from many different cultures. During the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, many find it hard to find the time for environmental concerns.
The flurry of holiday functions often leads to some simple ways of reducing and recycling being overlooked. It also presents many opportunities for improvement. With just a little attention, the holidays can be a much less wasteful affair. Here are some great ways to incorporate environmental principles into any holiday routine.
An eco-friendly Christmas or holiday winter season
Christmas is likely one of the most celebrated winter holidays the world over. One of the most well-known Christmas traditions is, of course, the shining and shimmering Christmas tree. For decades now there has been a trend to move towards synthetic trees. This started with aluminum trees, which have been replaced today by plastic trees. At first glance this might seem like an environmentally friendly trend. These synthetic trees consume a lot of resources to make and will last for years and years once finally disposed. Real trees are biodegradable and grow back.
What about green holiday Christmas lights?
The warm glow of traditional Christmas lights is a memory that is sure to stir festive feelings in many people. It’s also likely to invoke feelings of dread, when remembering the tedious task of checking countless bulbs to find the one bad one. Today these glass bulbs have been largely replaced by much more efficient and easy to handle LED Christmas lights. The bulbs are much more energy efficient than traditional Christmas lights. They also have a much greater lifespan, up to seven times the life of incandescent bulbs. These two factors make LED the best Christmas lights by far.
Shopping locally instead of online eCommerce
Online shopping has quickly become one of the go to methods for Christmas shoppers. In many ways this is a great benefit, at least economically speaking. In some ways, it’s not so great. Online shopping increases the amount of transportation goods go through, consuming resources and creating pollution. There is also increased packaging to be concerned about. Shopping local can greatly alleviate these two problems and local goods are always a great go to gift for any occasion.
The recycling problem of wrapping paper
The most obvious way in which the holidays produce too much waste is the way gifts are wrapped. Whether traditional gift wrap or bags are used, it’s creating excess waste without much added value. A good way to avoid this is to get creative when it comes to handling gifts. Alternative wrapping paper can be made from newspapers, jars or tins, or reusable boxes. These will be sure to make a big splash at any holiday events. A more green approach to wrapping gifts will help save money, and will leave less trash at the end of it all. The more creative the approach, the better.
Choosing handmade DIY gifts that carry meaning
Another simple solution to holiday waste is to replace store bought gifts with something hand-made. These ‘do it yourself’ gifts are often considered something only children make, children having more time and less money than most adults. This misconception is instantly dispelled whenever a person receives a thoughtful and well-crafted gift. There are so many different things that could be made at home on a budget and with only a little practice. This cuts out a lot of consumer packaging waste for Christmas and the holidays, and help develop useful skills all at the same time.
