How to Reduce Waste This Holiday Season

Holidays are the most beautiful time of the year, unless you are a planet. To get real holiday joy, you’ll have to rip through several layers of trash: disposable packaging, artsy ribbons, packing tape, packs of plastic shopping bags, mountains of shell packaging, and crappy lanterns that never even survived. Christmas Eve.

It is estimated that between Thanksgiving and New Years, Americans throw out 25 percent more trash than the rest of the year, which equates to roughly 25 million tons of additional trash. It’s everything from the wrapping paper and packaging to all the leftover Christmas puddings no one wants; plus shipping parcels and crappy jewelry for the dollar store. This figure doesn’t even take into account the carbon (and moral) footprint of all your late-night deliveries and toys from China at the last minute.

“We don’t like to think about the environmental impact during the fun season for a very simple reason: it’s bullshit,” says Shia Su, author of Zero Waste: Simple Life Hacks to Dramatically Reduce Waste. “ And we think this is an exception, so it’s okay.”

I don’t need to remind you now that the planet is dying , and in some cases actively being killed by a bunch of ebenezers in bad suits who would be happy to have coal in their stockings. But let me remind you that some of your holiday traditions are to blame. The key to all of this is to simply make – and buy – less. Warning telegraph news, we are announcing the official start of the war on Christmas … rubbish.

Shop at your local store (or at least order online sooner)

Less is less: Buy fewer items (many of which consume a lot of fossil fuels and resources on the way from China to the warehouse to the diesel delivery truck to the store at your home), buy less but more durable jewelry, go to less and store in the car , use less packaging and use as much as possible.

Let’s start with shopping: buying a local is always the best option whenever possible. It helps bolster local businesses and prevent a future of Wall E, where we all buy from the same giant planet-devouring mega-corporation named after something comically ironic like idk, rainforest or something.

When it comes to ordering online, remember that faster = more wasteful . Air travel usually uses more climate-changing fuels, so choose land transportation if you can. Avoid rushed action and two-day options (yes, even when they are “free”), which often have a greater impact on the environment. Keep in mind that online shopping will be as wasteful as possible in trying to get your order to you quickly.

“The two-day delivery may impose some restrictions on the service provider for the lowest carbon footprint and lowest fuel cost,” reads Grist’s Ask Umbra column . The column notes that longer delivery windows allow delivery companies more time to delay a delivery truck until it is half empty rather than half empty, and develop a more efficient delivery route around your area. This is not even to mention the fact that fast fulfillment centers are actually killing people.

Katherine Kellogg, blogger and author of the upcoming book 101 Ways to Get Rid of Waste, recommends looking for so-called “convenience” packaging options at major online retailers such as Amazon . These orders have less packaging or packaging made from recyclable materials . And it’s easier to open, too, so your grandmother will be grateful to you. If you’re shopping at a smaller online retail store, just send them an email asking if they can offer plastic-free packaging. This helps to eliminate excess packaging before it reaches the gift recipient.

“I think most [vendors] are really receptive to this idea,” Kellogg said.

If all else fails, at least try to combine your orders. One shipment containing all of your purchases has less environmental impact than multiple purchases scattered across trucks.

Don’t wrap it up

Here’s something you’ve probably suspected your entire life: brown paper is a scam! This is one of the few items you buy specifically for destruction, and when it is gone, you will never again think of those cute holiday patterns that you spent too much money on. The United States produces about 4.6 million pounds of brown paper annually; £ 2.3 million of which ends up in landfills. We also spend $ 7 billion on wrapping paper every year.

Some recycled buta wrapping paper should be non-metallic, textured, or has sheen or tape on it. Do you know if your wrapping paper meets these standards? Do you know how to check? Will everything you give pass the test? Any non-recyclable item misplaced in a recyclable bag can ruin the entire shipment. Also remember that waste is generated mostly where the product appears (for example, felled trees), not where it ends up. Skip it!

Experts recommend using regular, recyclable paper for packaging – like meat paper – for packaging, but even better newspapers or old magazines with a personal touch.

“It really doesn’t look like rubbish when you really wrap it in a good newspaper and stick a piece of pine in there,” says Madeleine Somerville, author of All You Need Less: A Green Guide to Green Living without Guilt and Stress-Free Simplicity tell us. “It actually looks super cute and minimal, natural and simple.”

Su suggests wrapping in funny magazine pictures or newspaper headlines to add joy, and adding dried orange slices or cinnamon sticks to give gifts a “sophisticated and nostalgic” look.

She also suggests stacking gifts in a creative way. Kitchen utensils can be wrapped in, for example, a tea towel, and personal gifts can be tied with a scarf. Reusable gift bags and other reusable items – cookie molds, masonry jars – make high-end gift containers that are much better than just fancy paper trash with snowmen printed on it.

Pass the white elephant (and maybe Secret Santa too)

The problem with White Elephant gift exchanges that you do at a party or office is that most people buy shit. The dangers of trying to buy a gift that a vague acquaintance will like means that you end up buying something they won’t use, or some gift that they’ll laugh at exactly twice and then throw it away. The “comic gifts” category is just a clever rebranding, because the “slightly humorous rubbish” didn’t make it.

“It’s hard to buy gifts that people really want, and I don’t want to complicate things by giving people gifts that they don’t need,” Somerville said.

This exchange of gifts can be a little in vain or hasty, which will inevitably lead to even more losses. But if you’re stuck with one of these gift exchanges, at least make the right gift (more on that below) that is less likely to end up in your basket within 12 hours of receiving it.

Waste-free gift shop

Yes, the simple solution to cut waste is to never buy anything from the store, but simply bask in the warmth of living together and possibly streaming baking. It doesn’t always work, but there is an easy way around this problem: giving gifts that are not things.

You’ve probably heard by now that millennials are killing the ‘ things ‘ industry, mainly because we don’t have a lot of money or a place to collect trash, and we are vaguely aware that spending money on shit seems silly when we might have to collect things. … all in a rusty school bus as you journey through the scorched wastelands of the increasingly likely future of Mad Max. Plus, research shows that spending money on experiences rather than things will make you happier in the long run. “Extrapolate that to your gifts,” Somerville says.

“Stop giving something tangential to something empirical,” she said.

So ditch kitchen appliances out of questionable necessity or clothing of questionable fashion status and instead buy something like concert tickets, museum passes, a brewery tour, or a membership to a subscription service like Audible or Marvel Unlimited. The Internet is full of lists of similar ideas . Sites like Etsy also allow you to search for waste-free gifts . Somerville is urging family members to forgo gifts for her daughter and instead help pay for dance lessons or other expenses she wants to take on in the coming year.

She said it’s all about changing your thinking: think of a gift as a burden that you give someone to take care of. Are they going to use it often? Or is it something that will sit around for years? Will there be a spark of joy, as they say, or will you just say to the other person, “Now, are you throwing this far ?”

Let Santa talk to

You’ve unveiled your basics on waste reduction, but what about the people who are so rude to show their love for you and give YOU gifts? Talk to your loved ones (or send them this article!) Before they buy you anything and let them know what you really want for the holidays is a planet that isn’t covered in more plastic than trees. Somerville says she will advise family members to invest in fewer, better-quality gifts, such as a sturdy wooden toy instead of a few flimsy plastic ones.

Su recommends just saying what gifts you like.

“Choosing the right gift can be very stressful, so it reduces stress for them and you know it’s going to be something rewarding,” she said.

But it’s the holidays now, so be smart. Being able to consider the environmental impact of your vacation is definitely a privilege (and you should take advantage of it if you have one). You can always give gifts that you don’t like to the less fortunate, instead of sending them to the trash can.

“I don’t think now is the time to die on this hill,” Sommerville says. “The goal is to remember that only the thought matters.” Bottom line, if you can convince your loved ones to refrain from gifts or choose options with less waste, you should definitely, but your experience here may vary, and that’s okay too.

Fake tree or real tree?

On this issue, the opinions of experts are divided! A 2010 study , cited by the New York Times, found that plastic wood must be used for 20 years to mitigate environmental impact; but most people use only six of them. Real trees need to be tended and transported on fuel-consuming trucks, but they also help suck carbon out of the air, and in January they can be turned into mulch and compost.

According to this study, living trees actually have a third of the carbon footprint of artificial trees, which are made from sometimes harmful PVC plastic. So if you have a plastic tree, use it forever and ever; If you’re going to go for real, buy a local – or take one of the ones planned to be thrown away – and don’t forget to put it back in the ground when you’re done.

Buy some decent jewelry or make your own

The dollar store lights will deliver the dollar store junk to you. Get energy efficient LED lights that will last for many, many seasons. In general, never buy jewelry that will not last for several years. Or, just get more creative and use household items like strings of popcorn and cranberries to decorate your Christmas tree – a traditional classic that has somehow been supplanted by plastic over the years. Kellogg recently collected a bunch of bright red leaves outside her home in the Bay Area and is using them for holiday decor.

“I feel like it looks very nice and at the end I’m going to put them in a compost bin and it will turn into soil again,” she says.

Reduce your feast, skip the fried beast

Food waste is one of those glittering privilege muscles we love to do in America, and it takes some extra workout during the holidays. For example, during Thanksgiving, the National Council for the Protection of Resources found that 6 million turkeys were trapped in the trash . These birds took over 100 billion gallons of water, enough to supply New York City for 100 days. This is a sign of how carelessly we are consuming food and how ethically questionable the dietary system has become.

“Lavish meals are also food waste,” Su said. She recommends reducing the overall carbon footprint of your dinner by doing what experts continue to recommend is the simplest action you can take to personally combat climate change – get rid of your meat addiction and eat more plant-based foods.

To cut down on physical waste at holiday gatherings, Kellogg recommends cutting your guest list by 20 percent – figuratively speaking. Invite the same number of people, but act as if you invited 20 percent fewer. You will make less food, end up with less leftovers (you already make too much food and you know it) and throw less disposable packaging in the trash.

Whatever food waste you have, compost it. According to the EPA, food waste in landfills releases methane, a gas 25 times stronger than carbon dioxide at keeping the atmosphere warm. By the way, meat cannot be composted; do you notice a pattern?

New year, the same planet

If your party decor has ‘2019’ written on it, the full lifespan of this item is from approximately 8:00 pm on December 31st, until you pass out tired and unhappy at another dull New Year’s Eve party a few hours later. As a rule of thumb, never buy items that can only be used once, for one day. Plastic confetti and glitter is just another microplastic that ends up in the ocean and then ends up in the stomach of a sea creature, which will be cut open a few years later to be published in a viral photo . Kicking off the new year by throwing a bunch of 2019 plastic glasses and mufflers in the trash can is like a hangover for the entire planet.

Buy jewelry and mementos that you can use over and over again, and use real glasses – or stone jugs, Mets souvenir helmets, whatever – instead of disposable plastic champagne flutes. Or, just mark it right: Drink champagne alone in the dark, which saves on energy costs too!

Holidays require frills and abundance, but you just need to kick the habit and do less. It is impossible to recycle our waste because recycling does not work the way we think it does . Santa and Rudolph are fictional, of course, but if we don’t take action, Frosty could be too.