The holidays are the most wonderful time of year, unless you are the planet.
And we feel its an exception so its okay.
But I do need to remind you that some of your holiday traditions are to blame.
The key to all this is just to doand buyless.
Alert cable news, were declaring the official start of the War on Christmas… waste.
Lets start with shopping: buying local is always the better option whenever possible.
When it comes to ordering online, a good rule of thumb to remember is that faster =more wasteful.
Air shipping typically uses more climate change-causing fuel, so choose ground shipping if you have the option.
Thats not even to mention that rapid-fulfillment centers areactually killing people.
Those orders come with less packaging or packaging made ofrecyclable materials.
And its easier to open too, so Grandma will thank you.
If youre shopping from a smaller retailer online, just email them asking if they can offer no-plastic packaging.
It helps to take the excess packaging out of the equation before it reaches your gift recipient.
I find that most [sellers] are really really receptive to that idea, Kellogg said.
If all else fails, at least make a run at batch your orders together.
We alsospend $7 billionon wrapping paper every year.
Doyouknow if your wrapping paper meets those standards?
Do you know how to check?
Will everyone youre gifting go through the hassle of checking?
Any non-recyclable item wrongly put in a bag of recyclables can taint the whole load.
Also, remember that waste is produced mostly from where a product comes from (i.e.
tearing down trees) not where it ends up.
It actually looks super cute and minimalist, nature-y and simple.
She also suggests getting creative about wrapping gifts inside each other.
The category of joke gifts is just smart rebranding because slightly humorous garbage didnt test well.
These kinds of gift exchanges can be a little half-assed or rushed, which inevitably leads to more waste.
That doesnt always work, but theres an easy way around this problem: Give gifts that arent things.
Extrapolate that to your gift giving, says Somerville.
Change from giving something tangential to something experiential, she said.
The internet isfull oflists of ideaslike this.
Sites like Etsy also let yousearch by zero-waste gifts.
Is it something theyre going to use often?
Or is it something thats going to sit around taking up space for years?
Have a talk with your loved ones (or send them this article!)
Su recommends just saying specifically what gifts youd enjoy.
But its the holidays, so be reasonable.
I dont think this is necessarily the time to die on this mound, Sommerville says.
The goal is to remember that its the thought that counts.
Fake tree or real tree?
Experts are sort of still split on this one!
Buy some decent decorations alreadyor make your own
Dollar-store lights get you dollar store trash.
Invest in an energy saving set ofLED lightsthat will last many many seasons.
More generally, never buy decorations that wont last multiple years.
Lavish feasts also mean food waste, Su said.
Invite the same amount of people but act like youve invited 20 percent fewer.
Whatever food waste you do have, compost it.
You cant compost meat btw; noticing a pattern?
As a general rule, never buy things that only have one use, for one day.
The holidays beg for overindulgence and opulence, but youve just got to break the habit and do less.
Its impossible to recycle our way out of waste, because recyclingjust doesnt work like we think it does.
