Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, Americans produce an extra 1 million tons of trash per week. In the busy holiday season, consider ways to go green:
Reuse resources in your home to wrap gifts. Consider road maps, posters, Sunday comics, fabric, or a used brown sack.
Gift certificates, tickets, and baked goods are treasured gifts and do not require additional wrapping. Keep in mind that foil paper, tissue paper, and ribbon are not recyclable.
Reuse or recycle gift wrapping, ribbons, bags, and boxes.
Take tote bags when you go shopping instead of paper and plastic grocery bags. Store the reusable bags in your car to help you remember them when going shopping.
Limit the use of decorative lighting or other unnecessary uses of electricity.
Consider replacing older strings of holiday lights with more energy efficient light emitting, LEDs. They present no fire hazard and save up to 80-90 percent of your decorative lighting energy costs.
Using holiday lighting wisely can lower power consumption. Timers can help reduce power usage by turning the lights on at dusk and turning them off at a desired time.
At meals, use reusable plates, cups, linens, and utensils.
Please enjoy this holiday season, cherish time spent with loved ones, and look for ways to save resources.
(December 2009)
