Holiday Season Recycling

The Holidays are upon us! Many of us will be wrapping gifts and decorating our homes and workplaces very soon, if you haven't already.
Did you ever actually think about how much garbage you create during the holidays though?
Actually, a lot. Here is a SHORT list:
Wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, bags, boxes, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, cellophane...

The list goes on and on, but you get the picture.

If your anything like my whole family, who creates two or three garbage bags worth of 'trash' in one sitting during the holidays, this might be a good question.

So what are we going to do with all this JUNK?

I've come up with some creative solutions (with a little help) to keep garbage to a minimum this holiday season:

Wrapping Paper: Almost EVERYONE uses wrapping paper at some point.
•If you are patient enough to get out the scissors and carefully unwrap the paper, you can fold it
up and save it for another holiday package (re-wrap it).
•For the less patient: Use it for packing! Crinkle the paper up and put it between your breakable
holiday decorations so they don't hit against each other and break. Wrap things up in it to put
away for next year. After all, it's just as abundant as any other protection for packing.
Ribbons: Ribbons are a little harder to salvage, and not as widely used.
•If you can untie the ribbon, save it and put it on another present!
•If you can't, but it's long enough, tie up the garland, lights, strings of beads and popcorn strings
together with it for saving for next season. It'll keep them from becoming a tangled mess.
Bows: The sticky bows are easy!
•I don't know anyone that hasn't done this: Take them off the box/bag, tear off the wrapping
paper, and then use it next time you need a bow by putting some tape on the bottom of it!
Easy.
Bags: I mean the kind you use instead of wrapping paper.
•Also simple. If it's the small/regular variety of gift bags, fold them up and use them again next
year. I recommend using gift bags instead of wrapping paper any day.
•There is also the LARGE variety of gift bags (Think as tall as a small child). These can also be
used to wrap things up the next year in. Also good for carrying things (like your newly-found
gifts) around in.
Tissue Paper: This also goes along with gift bags.
•Tissue isn't good for a lot, but it can be used the same way as wrapping paper. Use it to protect
your breakables when you pack things up after the holidays. You'll have plenty of protection
this way.
Boxes: You can think of a million more uses than I can, but I'll start you off.
•Storage: Do I need to say more? Big boxes from the post offices or shipping companies can be
used to store ANYTHING.
•Packing Gifts: Shirt Boxes, shoe boxes, check boxes (yes... I will explain) are all good sizes for
gifts. If you recipient won't be a snob about what box their gift is wrapped in (because I hope
you put wrapping paper over it if it's a shoe or check box) they are all perfect for this.
◘ I said I would explain check boxes. Checks as in the kind you use to draw money from
your checking account. They are the perfect size for small socks (baby booties),
gloves, ties or small toiletries. You can tease them and tell them you got them
checks too if you want.
Packing Peanuts: The Styrofoam pieces the postal service uses to keep things from getting broken.
•If you want to make it an arts and crafts project, there are a MILLION uses for packing
peanuts. Let your kids (or you) be creative with it. They're easy to paint also.
•The most obvious one is to use it for storage, shipping, etc. If you don't have enough wrapping
paper and tissue paper left over by this point, packing peanuts can help with that.
Bubble Wrap: Ahhh, the entertainment!
•If you like, bubble wrap is very entertaining on a rainy day (or a very, very snowy one). Just
keep popping!
•So your not into just playing with it? Use it for packing, shipping, etc. I know this is a lot of my
suggestions, but you just received gifts and you have to put away the holiday decor
SOMETIME.
Cellophane: The plastic people wrap baskets up in; clear or shiny usually; between wrapping paper and tissue paper.
•Usually this comes off of gifts fairly intact. The recycled works well for wrapping.
•You CAN use it for packing, but this one I have not tried out myself. I can't give you a revue of
it.

There are a LOT of other things you get that you throw away during the holiday seasons. If you come up with any and don't know what to do with them (or just want to see if you can stump me), send them to me (envirostudent@rocketmail.com) or comment and I'll get back to you with my holiday recycling ideas!

Happy Holidays!

I was informed about a GREAT site!

I appologise for the month's worth of inactiveness! (That's what happens when your a student around finals time!) I will be back much more often now that we're on break.

I was informed about a website, and it seems AMAZING! I will be trying to create a permanent link on the site, but until then I thought I'd blog it:

SnaffleUp: The recycling web site designed to keep useful items out of landfill.

Go ahead, click it, you know how much you want to! I visited it not long after the person who owns it contacted me, and it's incredible. The site is trying to recycle things that can be re-used. You don't need it anymore, give it to them! You need something? They probably have it!

The best part: It's free. We all LOVE free stuff right? Well, since everything is donated, they 'resale' (for free) the recycled things back to you for free! The only cost is shipping.

If you are from the U.S. you are out of luck for the moment, this is a U.K. site, but the owners have publicly announced that they are working on a .com version of the site, so it will be more widely available in the States!


Anyone that tests this site out, I'd LOVE to hear back from you about your experience. Comment me back or email me about it, we'll do a follow up if I get a view reader-reviews!