Americans create more paper and throw-away-material around the holidays than at any other time of the year. You can help reduce the amount of material that is thrown away by reusing and recycling. Gift boxes, trees, wrapping paper, cards, junk mail, magazines, catalogs, plastics, glass and aluminum beverage containers are all recyclable.
Holiday Factoids:
- Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year’s holiday season than any other time of year. This extra garbage amounts to 25 million tons of trash.*
- If every family in the U.S. reused just 2 feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet.
How to Have a Greener Season:
- Use reusable shopping bags.
- Use reusable gift bags
- Send your holiday greetings in electronic form.
- Avoid wrapping gifts in materials that are not recyclable or reusable, such as foil or metallic papers. Always buy recycled-content wrapping paper.
- If you send holiday cards, buy recycled-content cards and envelopes. Or make your own cards and gift tags out of last year’s cards and wrapping paper.
- Remove your name from the mailing list of any catalog you no longer wish to receive.
- Reuse foam peanuts or use unbuttered popcorn for packing. Check with your local UPS store to see if they will take unwanted Styrofoam packing peanuts.
- Rechargeable batteries and a battery charger are a great way to cut down on the consumption of batteries.
- Recycle your tree and wreath.
Learn more at www.holidayrecycling.com.
Find out more on how to recycle your holiday tree for free.
* Bob Lilienfeld/The Use Less Stuff Report