Forget about white .. have a very green Christmas!
By Mona Mattei
As we enter into the final days before Christmas and prepare to spend time with our loved ones, it’s a great time for us to also look at the impact our holiday season has on our environment. We all expect to have extra waste during the holidays, but every year our nations have increases as high as 25 per cent in terms of waste during the holidays, as compared to a regular week.
In the United States alone, the amount of waste generated during the holidays is six million tons, says Bob Lilienfield of www.use-less-stuff.com. The United Kingdom Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ Do Your Bit campaign shows that the British use: one billion Christmas cards, 4,200 tons of aluminum foil and 125,000 tons of plastic packaging. The U.S. statistics are similar – just multiply by eight.
With just a little effort from all of us, we can celebrate our environment along with the holidays! Here’s some ideas to help you along from Lilienfield and other sources:
1. We all love candles during the holidays – try to choose natural beeswax candles over paraffin made from petroleum products;
2. Change your tree and outdoor lights over to light emitting diodes (LED) to conserve energy. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if the U.S. would change over to LEDs, two billion kilowatt hours of electricity could be saved in one month. That’s equivalent to power for 200,000 homes for one year, says Lilienfield. When you switch over, take your old string of lights to the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary landfill to recycle them for you;
3. Choose recyclable batteries for presents that need power. You can keep hundreds of batteries out of the landfill and save money every year;
4. Send email cards. Millions of cards are sent each year to friends and family representing hundreds of thousands of trees. Most people have email now and it’s a great way to send a newsletter or pictures to family! Also consider recycling the cards you do get into tree ornaments or gift wrap for next year;
5. Consider gifts that don’t have packaging waste – tickets to events, sports, concerts or movies, or maybe a donation to someone’s favourite charity. The gifts come with no waste, and the tickets are recyclable;
6. Use cloth bags for wrapping presents – they can be easily homemade and great to reuse every year! If you do receive gifts with wrapping, reuse the paper, bows, and ribbons. A great site for reused gift wrap ideas is: www.giftdecorating.com.
7. Plan your visiting and shopping to save time and gas by reducing your driving. Better-planned shopping excursions always save money!
8. Look at options for your Christmas tree. Artificial trees save money annually, and are not a part of the landfill – at least not immediately! Potted trees can be planted after the holidays – some companies now rent trees for the holiday season, then pick them up in January and plant them. If you do buy a tree, give a donation to an organization to plant a tree in its place. And, if you do have a live tree, recycle it after Christmas by mulching it up for landscaping;
9. Buy less stuff and visit more! Christmas is about caring and spending time with family and friends – they’ll love the chocolate cake you made and enjoy a great visit as much as that card and gift-wrapped chocolates;
10. Change a light bulb a day for the holidays. Change over from the traditional incandescent bulbs to the compact fluorescent bulb that last for about five years and use 75-per -cent less power. Now that’s a Christmas present to the planet.
Wishing you all a green Christmas and happy holidays!
Use Less Stuff: www.use-less-stuff.com
Gift wrapping: www.giftdecorating.com
