Between Thanksgiving and New 12 months’s Day, the quantity of family rubbish in the USA will increase by 25 p.c, from 4 million tons to 5 million tons, together with present wrapping and product packaging. We additionally use extra electrical energy simply on vacation lights than some international locations use in a whole 12 months! All this waste is absolutely pointless.
Listed here are twelve eco-friendly vacation suggestions that will help you scale back your environmental footprint this vacation season.
1. Make Your Personal Wrapping Paper (or Go With out)
Earth911 estimates that roughly 4.6 million kilos of wrapping paper is produced within the U.S. annually, and that about 2.3 million pounds—about half of it—ends up in landfills. And on prime of all that, most wrapping paper and ribbon is produced in Asian sweatshops, and shipped from 1000’s of miles away, giving wrapping paper a fairly heavy environmental footprint!
A standard mistake many individuals make across the holidays is placing all their wrapping paper, tissue, ribbons, and so on. into the recycling bin. Sadly, in case your wrapping paper is metallic, has foil or glitter decorations on it, or has a texture to it, it’s not recyclable. Together with it in your recycling bin with different paper merchandise might make a whole load unrecyclable.
What a disgrace a lot water, oil and timber are wasted yearly solely to provide one thing that exists solely for use as soon as, torn off after which thrown within the rubbish. As a substitute of store-bought wrapping paper, get inventive and check out:
- white or brown craft paper (Have your youngsters adorn it for a private contact!)
- outdated maps
- the comics part of your native newspaper
- a fairly scarf or bandana, furoshiki-style
- a helpful material merchandise that could be a present in and of itself
- recycled material baggage from Amazon or different retailers
You could possibly even go with out wrapping your items altogether. A Small Footprint Family Facebook fan lately instructed me that at her dwelling, she hides all of the unwrapped presents round the home, and holds a vacation scavenger hunt for the children to search out them. What a enjoyable, intelligent, low-waste thought!
However in the event you should purchase wrapping paper, Wrappily presents pretty vacation wrapping papers constructed from 100% recyclable and compostable newsprint. You may also get vacation playing cards (and different playing cards, too!) constructed from 100% recycled paper at Paper Culture.
2. Purchase Vitality-Saving LED Vacation Lights
Due to know-how, now you can adorn your home with LED lights that use 80 percent less energy than conventional holiday lights, which can vastly scale back your vacation electrical energy invoice in the event you’re operating a number of strands of lights for a number of hours a day. (Add a timer, and also you’ll save much more!)
Not solely do LED vacation lights value pennies to run in comparison with incandescent vacation lights, additionally they have the next benefits:
- LEDs are a lot cooler than incandescent lights, lowering the chance of fireplace or burnt fingers. In contrast to incandescents, they get extra environment friendly as temperatures drop.
- LEDs are made with epoxy lenses, not glass, that are way more immune to breakage. With care, LED vacation lights can final for as many as 50,000 hours of use. And when one bulb does exit, the remainder of the string stays lit!
- In contrast to incandescent vacation lights, you possibly can typically join as much as 25 strings of LED lights end-to-end with out overloading a wall socket. And since LEDs use a lot much less energy than filament lights, there are varieties that may be run on batteries or small photo voltaic panels, saving you much more cash.
In accordance with the U.S. Department of Energy, if everybody changed their typical vacation mild strings with LEDs, the vitality value financial savings can be $850 million annually, and 9.9 billion kilos of annual greenhouse fuel emission can be prevented. The financial savings can be equal to the emissions from 940,000 autos!
LED lights are reasonably priced and out there online and at many main retailers. And, in the event you put your lights on a timer, it can save you much more cash!
Why Are Lead and PVC Utilized in String Lights?
Each lead and PVC are utilized in virtually all string lights (LED and incandescent) to insulate the wiring, retard fires and reduce the cracking and disintegrating that comes with age. String lights can even comprise antimony, arsenic or cadmium as insulators and hearth retardants, too—all poisonous heavy metals you don’t need to contact or inhale.
Whereas these toxins are inconceivable to thoroughly keep away from, you can discover much less poisonous string lights. Search for string lights which are RoHS compliant and free from Prop 65 warning labels.
With a view to be RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant, a product has to have lower than 1000 ppm (.1%) of lead in it. RoHS compliant lights should even have low ranges of cadmium, mercury and phthalates. So though RoHS compliant lights usually are not utterly lead- and toxin-free, they often are a lot safer in comparison with different, non-RoHS manufacturers.
Should you can’t discover RoHS compliant, low-toxin lights, remember to hold your string lights away from kids and pets, put on gloves, and wash your fingers completely after putting in them.
3. Add Natural & Native Meals to Your Vacation Feast
Make your vacation feast much more vibrant by supporting local household farmers and meals producers who sustainably produce meat, greens and seasonal treats in your space.
A neighborhood, sustainably farmed roast or ham is a lot better for the setting than manufacturing unit farm meat produced 1,000 miles away. Not solely does native, natural meals style higher, however you’ll even be doing all your half on your neighborhood and the planet too.
Here’s where to find an organic turkey or humane ham and local vegetables on your vacation dinner.
4. Get a Chemical-Free Tree
As individuals study extra about dwelling inexperienced and wholesome, demand is on the rise for Christmas timber that aren’t lined in chemical substances. Right here’s what you could know:
Stay Christmas Bushes
Studies have shown that lower or potted dwell timber are a a lot greener alternative than a synthetic tree. Dwelling Christmas timber present wildlife habitat, protect soil, moderate floods and drought, filter air and sequester carbon whereas they develop, which takes 6-8 years. Tree farms additionally present native jobs and good livelihood in rural communities.
However sadly, some growers can use as much as 40 completely different pesticides, in addition to chemical colorants on their timber! The excellent news is that there at the moment are quite a lot of tree-farms that promote pesticide-free timber, so ask your native Christmas tree vendor, or search for an organic tree farm close to you.
The most eco-friendly vacation tree possibility is a potted, native tree which you can plant after the vacation season. You could find dwell, potted Christmas timber in any native nursery in your space. In California, New York, and the United Kingdom, you possibly can even hire a potted Christmas tree, and they’re going to handle it for you between seasons!
If getting a potted tree just isn’t potential, scale back your carbon footprint by buying a regionally grown lower tree, and ensuring it will get mulched or in any other case recycled—slightly than put into the landfill—when the vacation is over.
Synthetic Christmas Bushes
Synthetic timber can final a few years if properly cared for, which appears to make them a extra sustainable alternative, however they do have some very important drawbacks. For instance, you would need to hold your plastic Christmas tree for at the very least 10 years for it to have the identical carbon influence as utilizing an actual tree annually.
Synthetic timber additionally pose an enormous hazard to the setting, to employees and to customers. Plastic Christmas timber are made principally of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a non-renewable petroleum product. As well as, massive quantities of fossil fuels are required to fabricate and transport the plastic timber (normally from Asia), including extra greenhouse gases to the environment.
PVC additionally comprises phthalates, which accumulate in physique tissues, and are linked to liver, lung and reproductive organ injury in mammals. Poisonous heavy metals like lead, cadmium and tin are usually used within the manufacturing of PVC, and can even result in environmental and health-related issues together with nervous system injury, notably in kids.
As a result of synthetic timber are flammable, many firms additionally apply flame retardants to them, which might trigger reproductive toxicity, neurological toxicity, endocrine disruption, and most cancers. In truth, there are such a lot of toxins in synthetic Christmas timber, that the labels warn you to keep away from inhaling or touching any mud which will fall from the branches!
Synthetic timber can’t be recycled on the finish of their life, in order that they have to be landfilled or incinerated. Within the landfill, the non-biodegradable supplies don’t actually ever break down, whereas incineration causes plastics corresponding to PVC to launch dioxins and different carcinogens into the air.
So, in the event you do select a synthetic tree, be sure to take excellent care of it so you should utilize it for at the very least 10 years, and remember to deal with it fastidiously to keep away from being uncovered to its poisonous mud.
You may also take into account different timber, like book trees, wine bottle trees, or trees made from ornaments or lights.
5. Recycle Your Christmas Tree
Every year, 10 million lower Christmas timber find yourself within the landfill, the place they produce methane, a potent greenhouse fuel.
Should you can’t chip your tree into mulch, lower it into firewood, use it in crafts, compost it, or feed it to your goats, you can nonetheless recycle your tree.
Over 4,000 U.S. cities alone supply packages to recycle your tree into mulch or wooden chips. Some cities even use your outdated timber to do vital environmental initiatives like streambank or dune stabilization. In some cities, you possibly can even donate your tree to the zoo to feed the animals there.
Go to the National Christmas Tree Association or Earth911 to discover a Christmas tree recycling program close to you.
6. Recycle Your Outdated Cellphone or Pill
Getting a brand new cellular phone or pill for the vacations? Undecided what to do with the outdated one? Every year, 130 million cell telephones are thrown out, weighing roughly 65,000 tons. Recycling your outdated telephone prevents hazardous components like mercury, cadmium and lead from ending up in our landfills.
Now, you possibly can drop off that outdated telephone or pill at any Staples retailer, take it to your native e-waste recycling heart, ship it to BigSky Recycling, or probably commerce it in along with your cellphone provider or one of many many buyback programs on-line.
7. Offset Your Vacation Journey
Should you or your family members are touring greater than 100 miles this vacation season, attempt to scale back air journey at any time when potential, and take into account offsetting the fossil gas air pollution generated by your journey, irrespective of the way you journey. These firms can assist you get timber planted to scale back your influence.
- Terrapass – Offers carbon offsets for flying, driving, and so on.
- CarbonFund – Offers a wide range of carbon offset initiatives to select from.
- Sustainable Travel – Offers a wide range of methods to offset carbon emissions
You may also scale back your air journey footprint by flying like a N.E.R.D. When reserving your flight, select:
- New. Newer plane just like the A320neo or Boeing 787-8 have 15% much less gas burn than older designs.
- Economic system. Extra seats, and fewer unfilled seats, means decrease gas burn per passenger.
- Common. Regional jets and really massive plane with 4 engines are gas intensive. Common, medium-sized jets are usually extra gas environment friendly.
- Direct. Fly direct, with out layovers, the place potential to scale back gas burn on account of circuitous routes.
8. Donate Your Time or Cash to an Environmental Trigger
Get into the vacation spirit by volunteering! There are numerous methods to assist enhance your neighborhood—and the planet—from cleansing up a neighborhood river to serving to inside metropolis youngsters expertise the outside for the primary time.
Organizations and charities everywhere in the nation want your time and/or your cash to make a distinction, so you possibly can have an amazing influence for a small quantity of effort.
Listed here are my three favourite environmental charities to donate to in the course of the vacation season:
- OneTreePlanted – One Tree Planted is a non-profit that allows people, companies and colleges to assist with reforestation initiatives everywhere in the world. They use your donation to empower native communities to develop and plant the saplings wanted to restore forests after fires and floods, create jobs, construct communities, and defend habitat for wildlife.
- Charity:Water – charity: water is a non-profit group that brings clear and secure ingesting water to the 785 million individuals worldwide that lack primary entry to it. 100% of public donations go on to fund clear water initiatives.
- Savory Institute – The Savory Institute teaches Holistic Deliberate Grazing to farmers, ranchers, and pastoralist communities throughout the globe so as to facilitate large-scale regeneration of the world’s prairies and grasslands by way of biomimicry and holistic administration.
9. Make Handcrafts & DIY Presents
There are such a lot of methods to scale back your consumption influence when giving vacation items. DIY items could be as a lot enjoyable to make and provides as to obtain. There are tons of concepts on Pinterest, however you might be actually solely restricted by your creativeness.
Some selfmade present concepts embody:
10. Give Experiential Presents
Probably the most memorable items to offer is the present of an expertise. By giving items that may be skilled, you possibly can decrease wrapping and purchasing, and nonetheless give them one thing they’ll always remember.
Something that permits your beloved to spend high quality time experiencing one thing enjoyable, new or attention-grabbing will make a present positive to be cherished for years to come back.
Some concepts for experiential items:
- tickets to a ball recreation, play or live performance
- a visit someplace attention-grabbing
- a 12 months of zoo or museum membership
- passes to a neighborhood theme or water-park
- classes, lessons or a workshop
- a bucket-list expertise, like sky-diving or whale watching
- a particular selfmade meal, therapeutic massage or “spa day” with you
Experiential items are extremely private, and are sometimes greatest loved when shared between each the giver and the receiver, so you possibly can construct lasting reminiscences collectively.
11. Buy Eco-Pleasant & Regionally Made Presents
Should you select to buy retail items, select merchandise that are available minimal packaging, are constructed from sustainable supplies, and could be simply recycled. You may also select items that assist individuals dwell extra sustainably, like a compost bin or a reusable water bottle.
Associated: 24 Unique Gifts for Gardeners
Store Native
Now greater than ever, it’s vital to assist your native small companies and retailers by purchasing for items in your hometown. This helps your native Primary Road to outlive, and offers native jobs. Should you’re undecided what to get, buy present certificates from space retailers, eating places and meals purveyors.
Every time you possibly can, attempt to consolidate journeys so you employ much less fuel throughout your vacation purchasing.
Eco-Pleasant On-line Purchasing
On-line purchasing reduces the period of time you spend driving your automotive, however the carbon footprint from transporting all these purchases could be excessive. As well as, the packaging could be an infinite waste.
In accordance with a study by MIT that in contrast brick-and-mortar purchasing to on-line purchasing, shopping for on-line usually has a decrease carbon footprint than driving round—besides when internet buyers select 2-day or sooner supply.
Every time potential, plan forward to keep away from 2-day or rush delivery. Choosing a slower delivery time offers the shipper time to schedule deliveries extra effectively. Attempt to consolidate shipments of a number of gadgets when you possibly can, and waive signature necessities (or use Amazon locker) to forestall a number of supply makes an attempt.
There are a lot of on-line retailers specializing in sustainable and handcrafted items, from arts & crafts to clothes to family items to effective jewellery, together with:
12. Stuff Stockings With Yummy, Pure Treats
Stocking stuffers are usually small, plastic trinkets that find yourself damaged, misplaced or within the rubbish by the top of January. As a substitute, honor an old school custom and fill your stockings with yummy treats like dried fruit, nuts, clementines, sweet, and homemade holiday cookies.
How are you being inexperienced this vacation season?
We Want You a Peaceable Vacation and an Considerable New 12 months!
—The Small Footprint Household
This text was excerpted from my e book Sustainability Starts at Home – How to Save Money While Saving the Planet. For extra money-saving, planet-friendly suggestions, choose up a duplicate right this moment!
Additionally featured on NPR’s Here and Now Show with Robin Young