As we all know, the holiday season is a time for family get-togethers and celebration. But with all the memories comes lots of boxes, bows, gift wrapping, decorations, food, and other items that often end up in our landfills.
However, there are so many creative and useful ways to be green and sustainable during the holiday season. Here are some of the our favorite tips! We would also like to hear what you and your family do during the season to be more green.
Alternative Gift Wrapping
Many of the our members use alternative gift-wrapping methods. Kim Movshin, Greg Smith, and Maggie Willis reuse gift bags from year to year. Melissa Muth wraps items in newspaper or magazine pages and turns it into a game for the recipient to guess the name of the magazine.
Homemade Gifts
Maggie Willis has made paper decorations and salt dough ornaments.
Decorating
One of Jon Hsu’s favorite activities is reusing calendar pictures from the previous year as decorations.
Re-Gifts and Charity Donations
While regifting can be controversial, Kristen Hosni loves to regift meaningful gifts. For example, she has gifted her daughter her own clothing that she no longer wears (or fits into…LOL) and her daughter has really liked these gifts. Peter Spreitzer has donated to charity in the names of family members instead of a tangible gift, which cuts down on consumption and delivery! He also suggests to be even greener, donate to an environmental organization or cause.
Composting
Food waste, especially during holiday dinners, is a huge contributor to our landfills creating a huge impact to the future of our environmental safety. If you already compost, congratulations and well done! If you don’t know much about composting and are interested in thinking about getting started, read Councilman Pete Marsh’s article on composting. There will be a lot more about composting in 2020!
LED Lighting
Pete Marsh has switched all his outdoor Christmas lights to LED and uses a timer to limit how long they are turned on.
Recycling Collections
Make sure you know how which items are accepted in your curbside bin! Ed Cheshire and Ayaz Hyder also love to participate in the Styrofoam collection. As a reminder, Saturday, December 28 is our next Styrofoam collection. It is also the last day we will be collecting bottle caps and lids to be recycled into benches. Please bring everything to the Community Center from 10-noon!
