ZERO WASTE HOLIDAY HACKS

Did you know Christmas is fifteen times more wasteful than any other holiday or celebration?

Let’s take a look back at how this tradition came to be. On December 25th of this year, humanity will have celebrated Christmas approximately 1,686 times. The first-ever recorded celebration of Christmas took place in Rome on December 25th, 336AD. Christmas has always been dedicated to the celebration of the birth of Jesus, but until the 18th century, Christmas was celebrated with beautiful decorations, a large feast, and a social gathering. It wasn’t until the end of the 18th century that the act of gift-giving on Christmas Day was established.

Today, Christmas looks very different than it did 1,686 years ago. With the birth of the industrial revolution to the technological revolution; celebrating, decorating, feasting and gift-giving has never been easier, or as environmentally damaging. Between the large amounts of gifts, cards, decorations, food, and parties; it’s safe to say that this holiday is responsible for an alarming amount of waste.

So, how can you ensure that your Christmas celebration has all the fun, but none of the waste?

Don’t worry, PLAEX has you covered with the 15 best tips and reminders to help you reduce your Christmas waste!

Gift giving/receiving:

Give pre-loved gifts. Almost any item on someone’s Christmas list can be found second-hand. Although it can be more time-consuming, giving pre-loved gifts will reduce your carbon footprint by preventing the production of new items, with no one-time-use packaging. You could go out to thrift stores yourself, or check out some online second-hand item marketplaces, such as Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, ThredUp, or eBay.

Give the gift of an experience. If you would rather provide awesome memories rather than waste them; choose a creative experience-based gift. This could be something as grand as a stunt driving class or something as simple as a concert or AirBnB getaway for one night. Either way, the receivers of these gifts are sure to have a great time and appreciate the thoughtfulness of your experience-based gift. For more inspiration, check out this list of 42 experience-based gift ideas.

Use cloth gift wrap, rather than wrapping paper. In Canada alone, 545,000 tones of gift wrap and 6 million rolls of tape are used each year, just to wrap gifts! Over 50% of all gift wrap and almost 100% of all the tape ends up in landfill after Christmas. The perfect way to avoid all this waste is to choose a reusable, tape-free wrapping option. Furoshiki are traditional Japanese wrapping cloths designed to provide an elegant and aesthetic way to present gifts. They’re typically made from cotton or silk and come in square or rectangular shapes to make tying the wraps easy. Whether you choose to buy your wraps or make your own, just make sure you choose a fabric made from natural fibers! Another great option is saving the gift bags you receive throughout the year and reusing them! These bags can usually be folded for easy storage and no one will know (or remember) that they are second-hand!

Purchase gifts from local companies. Buying locally prevents much of the CO2 created during the transportation and delivery of goods. Plus, you’re supporting a local business. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Make a list before shopping to avoid impulse buying. Know who you’re buying gifts for, what you want to give to each person, and where to get it. This way, you only buy what you need, to save yourself and the planet a little strain.

Make your own cards or purchase cards without glitter or decorative material. Regular paper cards can be easily recycled into new products. Meanwhile, cards with paper and other materials such as plastics will have to go in your trash, to be landfilled or incinerated. To ensure that your Christmas cards can be recycled at their end of life, only use cards made from paper.

Get new electronics? Make sure you dispose of old electronics properly. Only around 17% of e-waste globally ends up properly recycled. Take your old electronics to your local recycling facility to be properly handled. Or sell your old electronics online to help you recover a little from Christmas.

Decorations:

Decorate with pre-loved items. Instead of purchasing decorations that have just been produced just for you, try searching for decorations that have already had a long and fulfilling life with another family. Second-hand decorations will reduce your carbon footprint and save you money at the same time. Plus, if you plan ahead and gather your decorations in the days following Christmas, you can get your decorations at incredibly reduced prices. Sounds like a win-win situation!

Rent a potted Christmas tree. Why would you choose to have a tree cut down, just so you can display it for a few weeks and then throw it to the curb after the holidays, when you could instead rent a potted Christmas tree, to be used time and time again? Instead of being cut down, the tree is carefully dug up from the ground, placed in a pot, and sold to you. When you’re done with your tree, it gets returned to the company, replanted, and used again the next year! Once the trees get too large, they’re “retired” and replanted permanently. Better yet, renting a Christmas tree is cheaper than buying a tree and they shed fewer needles because the tree is not slowly dying in your living room for weeks.

Rent Christmas decorations. Not only can you rent Christmas trees, but you can also rent all the decorations you would ever need from a local business! This also prevents the hassle of decorating your house if you don’t usually enjoy the decorating part. Most Decoration renting businesses offer a set of elf helpers to decorate your house for you!

Lightbulb moment! There are many ways in which you can reduce the environmental impact of your Christmas lights, so you can easily find the solution that works best for you! The best way to light up your house for Christmas is to use solar power, of course, to power your lights! If this isn’t a feasible option for you, you could also try switching to LED light bulbs. Not only are LED bulbs more environmentally friendly than traditional bulbs; LED bulbs are more durable, safer, cost-efficient, and versatile than your regular old Christmas lights! Of any solution to Christmas lights, there is no easier way to reduce your carbon footprint than to simply turn off your lights as often as possible. During bright daylight hours and late at night, nobody will be able to fully appreciate your beautiful lights anyway! You might as well have them switched off during these hours. You will notice a huge difference on your power bill.

The meal:

Make a plan for leftover turkey dinner. Probably one of the most overlooked sources of holiday waste is food waste. The amount of food waste generated in North America increases by about 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year's; 63% of which could have been eaten. The best and simplest way to not contribute to this statistic is to make a plan for your turkey dinner and stick to it. Although even with meticulous planning, you can still always expect leftovers from turkey dinner. That’s why we plan for this ahead of time with leftover turkey dinner recipes. My favorite leftovers recipe is mashed turnip and potato patties. It’s simple, easy to make, uses my most common leftovers, and best of all; tastes delicious!

Donate your leftovers. If cooking with your leftovers isn’t your thing, consider donating your leftovers to a local charity that will accept cooked food, or just give it to a friend who may not have had a turkey dinner themselves.

Check your cupboards before grocery shopping. All too often we go out grocery shopping for the holidays and buy a bunch of food that we already have in our cupboards. Use your plan for your turkey dinner to make a list of all the food items you would need, and then check your cupboard before heading out to the store. Your lonely can of peas in the back of your cupboard will be happy to see you!

Avoid food products with lots of unrecyclable packaging. A lot of the food you will purchase for turkey dinner will come wrapped in lots of unrecyclable plastic. You can avoid this by purchasing food in recyclable packaging such as cans and boxes, or buy your food from a local farmer’s market, which will come with far less packaging.

With these 15 tips in mind, PLAEX hopes you have a safe, fun, and waste-free holiday season! Nobody’s perfect, not even Santa himself. As long as you try to reduce your holiday waste, the planet will thank you!

Happy holidays from the PLAEX team! 🎄