Hot cocoa is brewing, Christmas cookies are baking, and pine and peppermint-scented candles are flickering. Looking out the frosted window, a light layer of snow glimmers on the sidewalks. But amidst all of this beauty, black trash bags stuffed to the brim with unrecyclable gift wrapping are waiting for garbage pickup.
It’s easy to assume that we can swap the trash bags for more environmentally friendly recycling bins, but Gina McCullough, Bi-State Regional Commission planning director, reminds us that our favorite glittery gift bags, shiny bows and penguin-patterned wrapping paper cannot be recycled because of the “brittle, plastic-like nature of the material.”
When it comes to holiday gift-related waste, recycling centers typically only accept cardboard boxes and tissue paper.
So how can we steer away from generating waste during the season? With a little imagination and holiday spirit, you can find multiple eco-friendly alternatives. Here are a few we have rounded up.
Comical eco-relief
Newspapers that grace our front porches each morning typically are turned over to the recycling bins after they are read. But what if we could put these daily headlines to better use — like gift wrap?
Newspaper pages are nice and large, making them a great alternative to traditional wrapping paper. Use the pages with comics, or find colorful holiday headlines.
Smaller gifts may easily be wrapped with pages and covers from Radish. You also could use the pages from old comic books you haven’t touched in years. Finish everything off with a piece of twin or ribbon, and you’re done!
Once the holiday hits, it’s easy to either save the ribbon and wrapping, or recycle the paper.
Can’t recycle? Reuse
Most of us have a family member who delicately pulls off their gift wrapping in an attempt to keep in or reuse it the next year. Or maybe that person is you! Either way, it’s a good idea to keep in mind! You can’t recycle it, so you might as well try to reuse it!
Christmas Day hide and seek
Part of the holiday excitement comes from tearing wrapping from packages and discovering
the surprise that has been hiding underneath. But because you cannot recycle the glittery, bright, plastic-like paper, you have to get a little creative in order to recreate that experience of excitement and anticipation!
How about a game of Christmas hide and seek? Keep your unwrapped packages safely
hidden until Christmas Eve. When the kids or your significant other are in bed and sound asleep, hide the gifts around the house.
For more excitement, place a gift on the edge of children’s beds so they have a Christmas surprise when they wake up.
To read the full story, visit http://qconline.com/radish/wrap-it-up-eco-friendly-creative-alternatives-to-traditional-gift/article_ec74e8c1-e1d2-53d4-926f-a89136a88a41.html.