As the holidays approach we see great deals in the aisles of our favorite stores. A symptom of the shopping fever caused by these deals is bringing home a tremendous amount of packaging and having even more being delivered to our doorsteps. With all the stress of the season, we want to give you a quick and easy guide to unpacking your holiday goodies in a more sustainable way.
1. For starters – Put the tape down.
Unlike the recyclable wrapping paper you went out of your way to purchase, tape is unfortunately not recyclable. There are unique and fun ways to keep your loved ones from peeking. Try using recyclable yarn, or just remember to remind all to discard the tape before recycling!
An easy way to remember this is to remember the good old lesson from The Mean One.
“The Grinch: It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags.
Narrator: The Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.
The Grinch: Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas…
Narrator: He thought
The Grinch: …means a little bit more.”
2. Bubbles Don’t Always Pop
Many types of bubble wrapping can be recycled – it’s important to know whether or not this is accessible within your local community before using such a material. If you are located in one of the many areas which in fact don’t recycle bubble wrapping, grab a smaller box and use recyclable paper to protect your gifts instead!
3. Don’t trash your present’s home
Once a present is brought home and unwrapped don’t overlook that the packaging it came from needs a new home as well. Your fun new toys such as electronics and those hard to find Hatchibabies come in carefully sealed packages. Those packages shouldn’t just be tossed, but instead should be quickly sorted through to salvage what can be recycled before discarding the rest.
4. Let your mail do the talking
What’s better than receiving holiday mail from friends and family? Recycling as much as you can when the season’s passed! We’re all going to get lots of mail this season, some which are special greetings from friends and family, others not so wanted, aka “junk mail”. Luckily, most of it can just be slid off the table and into the recycle bin. Just watch out for anything that contains too much plastic or those fake credit cards; those should go in the trash. Envelopes with small plastic windows and glossy ads can normally be recycled. Easy, right?
Hopefully, this article proves to be not only helpful for you but also for the beautiful world in which we live. If today we put a bit more thought into how to handle all of that packaging, tomorrow, and many more tomorrows, just might be a bit cleaner and greener.