10 Ways To Make The
Holiday Season Greener

Tip #1: Rethink The Tree

Tip #2: Make Your Own Decorations

It’s easy to make your own holiday decorations- paper chains, clementine wreaths, pine cones, and paper snowflakes will add festive cheer without heading for the landfill.

Tip #3: Use LED Holiday Lights

LED lights consume 80% less energy than incandescent lights and tend to last 25 times longer, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Tip #4: Gift An Experience

Gifting an experience, like tickets to a museum or dinner reservations, reduces packaging waste and often makes for a more memorable gift, too. If you have to gift something tangible this year, vote with your dollar by purchasing from a B Corp - these are companies that commit to social and environmental change.

Tip #5: Reduce Food Waste at Holiday Parties and Dinners

Americans waste an extra 5 million pounds of uneaten food each year from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. That’s enough food to feed over 500 people throughout an entire year. To prevent food waste, and to save money, spend time carefully planning your recipes and grocery shopping lists this year. You can also use the Guestimator (they have vegetarian recipe ideas too!), which is an online tool that will help you plan to prepare less food by estimating exactly what you’ll need. In addition, be sure to offer guests containers to take home, freeze leftovers that can be used in other recipes, and compost any unwanted leftovers.

Tip #6: Rethink Wrapping Paper & Ribbon

If every family in the US wrapped just 3 gifts in reusable materials, we could save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. Most store-bought wrapping paper is not recyclable because of its shiny coating. Instead of wrapping paper, wrap presents in old maps, newspaper, or catalogues. Or use reusable materials like a scarf, dish towel, or blanket - these things all make gifts as well! Plus, if every household in the US used 2 ft. less of ribbon, we could save about 38,000 miles of ribbon waste. That’s enough ribbon to tie a bow around the Earth, which is 24,901 miles in circumference.

Tip #7: Slow Down On Fast Fashion

Americans buy twice as many clothes as we did in 2000, and only wear them half as long. If you’re buying any clothing gifts this year, choose to shop from fair trade and ethical “slow fashion” clothing brands, or shop second-hand vintage.

Tip #8: Find a Home for Unwanted Gifts

According to a study by Finder, 3.69% of Americans admit to throwing away unwanted gifts. If you receive gifts you weren’t wishing for this year, don’t just toss them into the trash. Instead, give them to a friend or donate them to a local charity.

Tip #9: Give Rechargable Batteries With Gifts

Approximately 40% of all battery sales happen during the holidays. If these batteries are not rechargeable, they will likely end up in a landfill once they run out of power.

Tip #10: Recycle Your Cards

2.65 billion holiday cards are sold each year. These cards could fill a football field 10 stories high. Choose cards that are 100% recyclable, recycle cards the cards you receive, or choose to send digital cards instead through websites like paperlesspost.com. If we each sent 1 less physical card this year, we could save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.