How to make your holidays as waste-free as possible: DIY tips and advice

For example, instead of a ribbon, use a compostable rope or a rope with a cutting-a sprig of holly, a clipping of eucalyptus, or branch of a fir-tucked in it. It’s a rustic look that holds up even if you put things right in advance. Alternatively, slip in something less resistant, such as flowers or berries, just before hiding the gifts.

Don’t forget to Tape!

The last thing you want to do is make all these adjustments and mess with the standard plastic tape that can’t be recycled. Sellotape now offers a plastic-free version of its famous tape, which is 100 percent vegetable and completely compostable. Alternatively, consider paper-based options like washi tape. These often come in beautiful patterns too, which can also help jazz up lighter brown paper.

Send fewer cards – or go digital

If you have a family that is big on holiday cards, this can be a hard habit to break, but there are approximately 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the United States, and sending a card less each saving 50,000 cubic yards of paper. , according to Stanford University.

It helps that there are now great digital options that can be emailed to friends and family, completely eliminating waste – and can be sent at the last minute when it’s too late to mail anything. Make the extra effort to discuss in advance with your loved ones about anyone going the digital route for a bigger environmental win.

If you can’t stand the family tradition, then make sure you choose your cards as carefully as you choose your wrapping paper. Avoid glitter and foil, and look for cards that are labeled as recyclable. Even better – also look for those that have been made from postconsumer recycled materials. You can also buy cards that are embedded with seeds and can be planted!

Of course, you only have control over the cards you send. If you receive some cards that are not recyclable, consider holding on to them and cutting them up to reuse the parts with holiday symbols as gift tags for next year.

Choose a real Christmas tree, if you have one

It might seem counterintuitive, but even though real trees are only used once before being thrown away, they create less waste than their artificial counterparts. That’s because a real tree can be completely recycled if it is removed correctly, and can be used for things like wood, wood chips or compost.

Fake trees, on the other hand, are made of materials that cannot be recycled and are only headed for the landfill once their time of spreading Christmas cheer is over. The Carbon Trust estimates that you need to reuse an artificial tree between seven and 20 times (depending on size) to offset the carbon footprint generated by its manufacture, packaging and shipping. When you buy that real tree (if you haven’t already) make sure you buy something grown locally, which is the most sustainable choice since it doesn’t have to be shipped all the way there.

Go DIY on Decorations

When decorating your tree and your home, the same rules apply. Plastic and foil are not, and being creative is the best way to cut waste. For great DIY ideas, I’ll send you to YouTube, which is full of DIY holiday decorating tutorials: paper garlands, hanging paper dreidels, salt dough ornamentsa DIY Kwanzaa lanternand score more. These decorations won’t stand the test of time in storage, but they will be fully recyclable and compostable once the holidays are over, meaning you can consciously change your color theme every year.

Store-bought holiday crackers — the cardboard tubes you pull at both ends to open — should be avoided. Traditionally they use bright and shiny materials, which, as with paper and wrapping paper, makes them non-recyclable. And this is before considering the terrible, often plastic gift inside, which usually finds its way to the bin almost immediately.