Deck the Halls
Deck the Halls
December 2, 2011 by Taylor Studios
What’s green about the holiday season? Plenty! Amidst feverish shopping, you can keep an eye out for ways to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Online shopping leads to cardboard boxes, and if you’re shipping gifts, with a little forethought, you can reuse that Amazon box pretty quickly. Here at Taylor I do a lot of shipping, and it’s strangely satisfying to reuse boxes. It gets complicated, because the items are often delicate or strangely shaped, but oh, the challenge!
isn’t commonly recycled, due to how it’s often highly processed and, after you use it, covered in tape. It can take some thought, but reducing how much gift-wrap you use is possible. If you or someone in your household is able to sew, you can create reusable, drawstring gift bags from your favorite holiday fabric. There is always the classic use of the Sunday comics as gift-wrap, or maybe some of the ads that bulk up the newspaper.
Christmas lights are transitioning to LEDs, which means you need to dispose of your old incandescent lights as they burn out. Don’t throw them away! If they work, try to donate them locally or use . If they’re dead to the world, send them to a . It’s that simple!
Photo from HolidayLEDS.com
Now the tree. If you have an artificial tree, use it. If you want to go natural, donate it. Either way, don’t buy another one! This isn’t a black and white issue, since natural trees incur environmental costs too, but a good place to look at the arguments for both types. I think natural trees are the winner. And what do you do with it afterwards? You ! If you’re reading this locally, Champaign County offers treecycling at their next to Ambucs Park in Urbana.
And one last note, if you’re having family or friends over for a big holiday meal, why not cut down on your use of paper or Styrofoam plates, plastic-ware, and paper napkins? Used Chinet can’t be recycled (but it can be composted!), and it’s an icky job digging through the trash to see if those plastic plates are recyclable. If you have to go disposable, make sure the plastic has a clear recycling type number on it and that you can recycle it locally. Whatever you do, don’t burn plastic! Can you make the jump and use regular plates, silverware, and cloth napkins? Give it a try!
How have you made your holidays greener? If you have another resource that has helped you starve your local landfill, share it here!