Give Less Trashy Gifts This Christmas
We (you, I and the rest of America) will generate an additional 25 million pounds of trash this year between Thanksgiving Day and New Year's Day. A large portion of that trash is in the form of product packaging, wrapping paper and Christmas decorations (trees, wreaths, crappy garland that we have to toss after one year of use, etc.). When I learned that fac tonight on NPR (National Public Radio), I thought it worthwhile to share the commentators ideas, as well as a few of my own, on ways to reduce trash this Christmas:
- Buy a live potted Christmas tree and plant it outside in the spring
- Wrap gifts in something you're going to throw away anyway, like paper grocery bags (kids would enjoy making those ugly brown bags look festive). Heck, I wouldn't care if my presents (presumptious, aren't I?) come wrapped in newspaper.
- Give gift cards. :)
- Use gift bags instead of wrapping paper since many people (Grandma, I'm thinking about you) like to reuse them
- Forego Christmas cards for 1/2 the people on your regular list and call those people instead. They'd probably rather talk to you anyway.
That is the list of ideas I came up with in the final two miles of my commute home tonight. Here are sights with a few other ideas:
http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/PublicEd/Holidays/NoWaste.htm - Some decent tips, some dumb ones, too
http://use-less-stuff.com/ULSDAY/42ways.html
http://www.buynothingchristmas.org/index.html (Wow, extreme, but maybe worth a try?)
http://www.etsy.com/ - A cool site for people to buy (and sell) handmade products of all types. Who wouldn't want a couple of these guys for Christmas?
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_occasions_december/article/0,,HGTV_3472_5565877,00.html - Some decent tips that are more practical for those who might just want to dip their toes into the green Christmas water