HOW TO BE ECO-FRIENDLY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
If you’re like me, and wondering of ways to reduce your waste, the holiday is a big time and big opportunity to do our part and increase our love for this earth.
I’ve done my research over the years and noticed that it’s quite easy to be eco-friendly you just have to change the brand or style or where you buy things usually. It’s also super affordable most of the time because we can reuse so many of the things we already have rather than tossing them.
So this guide is to show you some tips on what to buy and how to handle this holiday season – FOR MOTHER EARTH
DECORATIONS & GIFTS
If you use a real tree, repurpose all parts of a real tree. That means chopping down the trunk for firewood, snap off twigs and leaves for mulch, and compost any leftover pieces. And make sure you are getting your tree from a reputable nursery, and not big corporations/not from someone chopping up wood from a delicate forest. OR purchasing a resuable tree and making it last for 10+ years is also doing .
Gift experiences when you can! Instead of traditional, commercial goods, you can do things like tickets to the movies, the local museum, mini-golf vouchers, a trip to the local pottery place to paint, or national park memberships. For adults, you could try gifting a dinner date for 2 with a restaurant gift card, cooking classes, something a little more extreme skydiving experience, dinner certificates for two, cooking class vouchers, pottery lessons, an Airbnb gift card (support small business), a years worth of membership or subscription (i.e. wine subscription, coffee subscription, streaming membership).
NO MORE NON-RECYCLABLE WRAPPING PAPER – or at least the non-recyclable kind. It’s time to cut ties and say goodbye to non-recyclables. A LOT of holiday wrapping papers are non-recyclable because of additional materials like metal sheets, stickers, glitter, and tape. Instead, make the “gift wrap” part of your present. For example, you could cover small jewelry wrapped in a scarf–another part of your gift. Or you could use the wrapping paper being sold almost everywhere that is recyclable and compostable. Just search recyclable/compostable or ask for it in stores! It usually looks like this:
No More Single-use Bags/Plastic – Use twine instead of plastic ribbons, and decorative (reusable) boxes instead of single-use bags. Reuse bows, strings, tags, and ribbons. Holiday ribbons and string are tough, so they can be reused multiple times, year after year!
Recycle all paper wrapping you do receive. Make sure to remove any tape hanging off and that the material is actually recyclable!
FOOD:
Use reusable or recyclable utensils and containers – we all know how convenient plastic utensils and paper plates are so easy for the holiday season – especially when we have people over. It can be so easy to just want to take the easy route to toss everything rather than dealing with it. But convenience is what got us into this mess in the first place.
Have guests bring their own utensils for eating and to-go ware for leftovers if you’re expecting more company than your own flatware can accommodate. This cuts down on both food waste and food ware.
Make foods that don’t require utensils – finger foods; pizza, sandwiches, subs, etc.
Purchase more sustainable utensils to have on hand for any parties moving forward – bamboo straws, bamboo forks, bamboo spoons, bamboo knives. It looks nicer and is worth the money in the long run (think about how many years you would have to buy plastic utensils, it probably adds up and surpasses the longevity of the bamboo utensils….)
Compost or repurpose food scraps. Save peels and scraps from carrots, onions, garlic, celery, and peppers. Save veggie leftovers and scraps for soup stock for later.
Provide cloth napkins over single-use paper squares. Less waste, more class. I recommend neutral colors and patterns that work year-round like plain white, bistro stripes, blue linen with simple embroidery, etc. Then, just toss them in the wash, and you have them all year long, and for every event you have!
I appreciate you reading this and trying to educate yourself more. Please leave a comment if you like this want to see more of this.
I’m happy to share my thoughts and will share my tips when I find it necessary or when I am inspired. I am also learning as I go, so I’ll try to share as much with you all.
I hope you have a wonderful, safe, and eco-friendly holiday season!