The Tree
- Buy a "balled and burlap" Christmas tree and replant after the holidays.
- Use an artificial tree; they're cost effective and can be reused year after year.
- If you have a cut tree, avoid discarding it in a landfill, where it will consume much needed space; consider recycling it instead.
The City of Philadelphia recycles Christmas Trees, just remove all ornaments, tinsel and other decorations and put them out on your regular trash day. For tree trimmings, try edible or compostable items like popcorn or cranberries on a string, gingerbread cookies or items made from "found" objects around your home.
- Get outdoor light strands that are wired in parallel. These have separate circuitry so that if one bulb blows out the rest will keep shining; all you have to do is replace the bulb rather than the entire strand of lights. Strands sold with series wiring stand or fall together, making it almost impossible to find and replace a single blown-out bulb.
- Purchase holiday lights made with energy-saving, light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.
- Try using colorful pages torn from magazines or last year's calendar pictures to wrap small gifts, and old maps, posters or the Sunday comics for larger boxes.
- Use crayons to decorate brown grocery bags and wrap with natural raffia ribbon.
- Reusable cloth ribbons can be used in place of plastic bows.
- Avoid using paper entirely by using reusable decorative tins, baskets or boxes, fabric bags or give a gift in a gift.
- Un-wrap gifts carefully and save wrappings for reuse next year.
If you do buy wrapping paper, look for ones made of recycled paper. Avoid conventional wrapping paper with metallic colors. Such paper is often produced in an environmentally unfriendly manner.
- Send E-Cards and you will not waste a single tree.
- Send 100 percent recycled paper or tree-free cards made by environmental organizations. In addition to "tree free" cards, you can get cards made of old subway maps, cards made of recycled junk mail, and cards that you can plant which are imbedded with a seed mixture that will grow in the spring.
- Glue pictures from old cards onto homemade or store-bought recycled paper to create new cards.
- Glue pretty paper on the inside of old cards to cover previous writing--and send them again.
If you send holiday cards, look for ones made of recycled paper. Avoid cards with glossy, shiny or gold foil coatings since these cannot be recycled. Look for the PCF label on cards (Processed Chlorine Free) -- they're printed on unbleached paper.
Environmentally-smart gifts include homemade ones (home baked cookies; bread or jam).
Ones that don't create any waste at all:
- Concert or movie tickets
- Dinner at a restaurant
- Planting a tree
- Living gift (potted plant)
- Battery-free gifts
- An IOU to give a service instead of a gift (e.g., dog walking, babysitting, massage, cooking, carwash, etc.).
- Best of all, give a Philadelphia Zoo Membership in someone's name... the gift that keeps on giving all year long!
If toys are on your list, try choosing ones that are PVC free (like Legos) or one of many products made from recycled materials. Donate old toys your kids no longer use to a shelter before replacing them with new toys. And ones that get "used up" (candles, soap, or seeds for next year's garden).
- Packing Peanuts: Call the Peanut Hotline, (800) 828-2214, for locations of mailing centers that reuse the packing peanuts. If there is no location in your community, check with local gift or craft shops, artists galleries or elementary school art programs for reuse opportunities.
- Corrugated Boxes: More than 70% of corrugated cardboard is recovered and recycled into new boxes and paper products. The fact is, the fibers from one corrugated box can have up to seven or eight lives. Breakdown and flatten your boxes for easier transporting before taking them to your local recycling center. If you do not have a center available, check with a local grocer or department store to see if they will bale your cardboard in their in-house recycling program.
- Old Catalogs: Shredded catalogs make great packing material when mailing gift packages.
- Use "real" dishes, cups, and utensils that you can wash and reuse year after year.
- Switch to cloth napkins.
- Make it easy for your guests to recycle bottles and cans.
If you must use disposables, buy napkins and plates made from recycled material.