Some holiday tips to reduce waste
You might have heard “glittt for wrapping, use unexpected things like paper bags, news paper, cloth scraps, magazine pages. Bulk food, grocery bags or pillow cases work they and serve a dual purpose. Bows made from fabric or twine. Pine cones, cinnamon sticks, dried citrus fruit are all cute and compostable. Or you can use stuff that’s been in your Christmas box for years like I am.
If you’re trying to reduce your waste, holiday shopping can be a challenge. You don’t want to buy someone one more thing they absolutely don’t need but you still want to get them something. And then there’s the wrapping and cards Oy vey! Every year about 540,000 tons of wrapping paper is thrown out and ends up in landfills. So. Much. Waste.
I’ll share with you a few things I’ve done this past year. For Valentine’s Day I sent my kid’s Chipotle gift cards, but instead of mailing them a card with a gift card in it, I sent them e-gift cards with a note saying I love you, here’s lunch on me. Most sites that offer e-gift cards have a place for a personal message. For our anniversary instead of gifts we went out for breakfast and went whale watching. We’d never been and it was a beautiful day out on the water. Of course there’s good old cash, I forgot to get (or make) my niece a graduation card so I used Zelle through my bank and transferred her gift right there at the dinner table. Easy peasy.
Our daily choices can make a huge impact, it may not feel like much but trust me it matters. Here are some other ideas:
Support small businesses, there’s lots of cool hand made things at the local farmers markets and usually they don’t have packaging. Think soaps, lip balms, bath bombs etc. Buying things at local businesses cuts down on transportation pollution.
Get your coffee or tea loving friend or family member a reusable coffee cup and an e gift card to their favorite coffee place (preferably a small business).
Give the gift of quality time, especially to your aging grandparents and parents. Take them for lunch, dinner, a movie, a pedicure. Go to a concert, bake cookies, watch a football game. Whatever it is actually doesn’t matter much, they just want your time. They get lonely and need to know that they’re still important amidst our busy lives.
Shop secondhand. I have found some incredible deals at thrift stores, like $200+ premium denim jeans for $15!!! And I LOVE Poshmark, I have found amazing things with the tags still on for less than half of the retail price..
As for wrapping, use unexpected things like old paper shopping bags, news paper, cloth scraps, magazine pages. Bulk food, grocery bags or pillow cases work they and serve a dual purpose. Bows made from fabric or twine. Pine cones, cinnamon sticks, dried citrus fruit are all cute and compostable. Or you can use stuff that’s been in your Christmas box for years like I am.
Zero waste, imperfectly is still moving towards zero waste
I’ve had this site now for over a year and yet I have posted only a handful of times. The biggest reason for that is that I’ve been somewhat intimidated, mostly in regard to the zero waste category. It doesn’t matter that I’m not doing zero waste 100% perfectly. I follow Anne-Marie Bonneau on Instagram, her profile name is zerowastechef, she posted “we don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly…we need millions of people doing zero waste imperfectly”. Which is the absolute truth.
Overwhelmed? No biggie, start with reusable grocery bags, produce/bulk bags, some jars and a reusable water bottle. Try looking at thrift stores for mason jars instead of buying some. I got my most recent glass water bottle at a thrift store for only $3.00.
Having meatless meals is another way to lower your carbon footprint. Too difficult? Try just one a week, need some ideas, search for #meatlessmondays. Small sustainable changes are the key, we can all do zero waste, imperfectly.