The following are some fun ideas for reducing and reusing while still fully enjoying the season:
1. Green your Giftwrap – To cut down on waste during the holidays, consider wrapping your gifts with fabric, dish towels or fabric totes, all of which are reusable and look really cool.
Or cut up and use paper bags (both from retail and grocery stores) into flat wrapping paper. You can decorate them with stamps, bits of old wrapping or markers. If you choose to buy wrapping, choose products that can be reused again before being recycled.
When you get gifts, do what you can to reuse or recycle the wrapping – being creative can make your gifts look beautiful and unique. Recycle More! It’s easy to do!
2. Real or Fake – The Great Tree Debate Grist.org posted a great article about whether it is more eco-friendly to go with a real tree or a fake tree. Their call? Go for the real tree and try to support a local, sustainable grower. Our tip? If you cut the tree yourself, you can lengthen its life, know how far it has traveled to get to your home and meet the farmers.
3. Give Waste Free – give experiences instead of stuff. Try a years worth of date nights, tickets to theatre or coupons good for homemade dinners. Check out more ideas for a waste-free holiday from King County.
4. Do a Craft Project! Eve of Reduction shows how to make cool snowflake ornaments from recycled milk jugs.
5. Find Inspiration See more ways to decorate for the holidays on the local blog, Celebrate Green! From new products to new inspiring ideas, the mother-daughter team of Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson share tips to make every day a little more healthy and green. From recipes to gift ideas, they have lots of ideas for choosing wisely this season.
