We know, we know.. tis' the season to be EXCESSIVE! But is it..?
With Christmas decorations, food, wrapping paper, packaging, unwrapping and eating, we don't notice the 100 of pounds of waste we're producing and sending to our local landfill over the Christmas holiday. Not only that but we don't even notice all the redundant things we're wasting our money AND 'wasting waste'.. So this article is meant to help you reduce Christmas waste through your gifts.
Step One: Find A Gift They WANT
Ever buy someone something because you HAD to and didn't put much thought into it? Probably.. It's nice you did that but not only did you waste your money on something useless but they'll probably never use it and your gift's chance of going into the landfill or 're-gifted' has gone up about 85%. Reduce Christmas waste by putting some thought in it!
Step Two: Find a Gift without the Packaging
This can be though, especially when purchasing things from big box stores like Walmart or Superstore basically plastic wrap every product.. Never fear! Options are near! No one is going to die (well, anyone over 8 won't) if you don't buy them that gift cased in plastic. A great way to reduce Christmas waste is to have gifting options and find the gift with little to no packaging waste.
Step Three: Gift an Experience
We could go on and on about purchasing a gift with less packaging. Yes, it can be challenging but do you know what takes little to no effort in reducing packaging? An EXPERIENCE gift! Restaurants, activities, movies or any other 'experience' gift is a great option to avoid packaging waste! Plus, 'experience' businesses are on an all-time rise and there are so many cool options out there. Plus, they're usually locally owned! A topic for another time..
Step Four: Gift Wrapping
We'll let you in on a little Christmas secret.. Anything shinny and plastic you use to wrap gifts.. CAN'T BE RECYCLED!!! This includes bows, string, wrapping paper and name labels. So what are your options? Holiday tins, boxes, newspaper, and NON-GLOSSY wrapping paper are amazing ways to reduce Christmas waste and often a cheaper alternative.
In the end, Christmas isn't about the gifts you buy or the things you receive.. it's about how much useless junk you (mom & dad) avoid when Christmas is over and the garbage you don't have to deal with.. isn't that the unspoken truth?
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