Contents:

Don’t Let the Holidays Go to Waste
Gift Wrapping
Bows and Ribbons
Holiday Tree
Tree Ornaments and Decorating
Party Waste Reduction Tips
Giving “Green Gifts”
Other Ideas For Gifts
Volunteer and Donate
Volunteer Coupons – Gift Giving Ideas for Children
Gifts to Avoid
After the Holidays
Green Resolutions for the New Year
Facts on Holiday Waste
Links You’ll Like

Don't Let the Holiday Go to Waste

On an average day, a typical Washingtonian creates over 5 pounds of waste. But from Thanksgiving to New Years Day, household waste increases by more than 25%. Added food waste, shopping bags, packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons—it all adds up to an additional 1 million tons a week to the nation's garbage piles. In fact, 38,000 miles of ribbon alone is thrown out each year--enough to tie a bow around the Earth!

And it's not just trash. The average American spends $800 on gifts over the holiday season. Think about your time and energy spent driving all around town looking at so much stuff, and dealing with the hustle and bustle of the mall. It's no wonder that so many people get stressed out during the holidays! Maybe it’s time for a new tradition – a no-waste holiday season.

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce waste, the Grays Harbor County Solid Waste Division would like to help you cut the amount of trash you put out at the curb during the upcoming holiday season. This site is your one-stop site for all the information you'll need to take a few simple steps toward keeping holiday waste out of the landfill. These pages are loaded with useful tips on reducing holiday waste.

We have gathered some holiday gift ideas from many sources to help you reduce the amount of waste you generate during the holiday season. By implementing these ideas, you can also reduce holiday costs. Be creative and have fun!

Gift Wrapping

Trying to avoid the "gift wrap trap?" Here are some great ideas for gift wrapping alternatives.

• Scarves, handkerchiefs or bandannas.
• Old posters and maps.
• Pages from a child's coloring book taped together (especially nice for relatives who would enjoy the artwork).
• Old sheet music.
• Newspapers (foreign newspapers are great).
• Last year's holiday paper (press with warm iron if wrinkled).
• Wallpaper scraps.
• Home-sewn cloth bags.
• Fabric scraps.
• Pictures or advertisements from magazines and catalogs.
• Sunday comic pages.
• A present in a present (for example, a hat in a matching scarf, jewelry in a wooden box, cookies in a reusable tin or cookie jar, barbecue grill utensils or picnic supplies in a tablecloth, kitchen gifts in towels or all-purpose cloths).
• A plain box decorated with leftover glitter, paint, markers, etc.
• A cake pan, basket or a wooden box.
• Reusable decorative bags.
• A “Hollywood box:” individually wrap or decorate the top and bottom of a box with a separate lid. Encourage the recipient to reuse the box.
• Purchase wrapping paper made from recycled paper.

Bows and Ribbons

These items make an eye-catching final touch:

• Bows saved from other gifts.
• Reusable items, such as hair bows, ornaments, shoe laces or toys.
• Stencils or pictures from holiday cards pasted onto a plain brown paper bag or box.
• Last year's holiday cards cut up for gift tags.
• Old neckties.
• Spices, such as bundled cinnamon sticks or cloves in mesh cloth.
• Scrap fabric, lace, yarn, rickrack and seam tape.
• Scarves.
• Combinations of beads and buttons.
• Dried or silk flowers.

Holiday tree

• Consider buying a potted Norfolk pine, fig tree or indoor house plant that can be used every holiday season as your evergreen tree.
• Purchase a tree from a tree farm rather than cutting one down in the wild.
• Use trimmed branches from your tree for decorating around the home or making wreaths.
• Consider buying an artificial tree that can be reused every year.
• Decorate evergreen bushes or pine trees outside a window with removable, reusable decorations.

Tree Ornaments and Decorating

Here are a few ideas for adding a special touch to holiday decorations:

• Memorabilia, such as a child's first shoe or grandma's hankie scented with perfume.
• An old full skirt as a tree skirt.
• Old jewelry (restring old necklaces, hang earrings or bracelets).
• Items collected on vacation.
• Small stuffed animals and toys.
• Cookie cutters.
• Miniature toy cars.
• Dressed-up doll as a tree-topper.
• Holiday card ornaments: cut up; glue felt fabric scraps on back; tie with yarn scraps.
• Edible cookie ornaments: use gingerbread or sugar cookie dough; poke a hole at the tip using a drinking straw; decorate and bake; thread a ribbon through hole; tie ribbon in a large loop and hang on bough of tree.
• Small pictures from old magazines or holiday cards: cut out; glue onto old plastic lid; decorate with beads, buttons or jewelry; punch a hole and hang with string or yarn.
• Popcorn and cranberry strings (can be eaten by animals after the holidays).
• Reusable glass icicles instead of disposable tinsel (keeps tree clean for mulching).
• Buttons knotted on a sturdy length of string.
• Spices from the kitchen instead of commercially prepared and packaged products or aerosols (for example, create pomander balls by placing whole cloves in oranges or lemons to create decorations that look and smell great).
• Gingerbread people and reindeer from leftover brown paper grocery bags (place on windows and walls for decoration.)
• Tin can luminary (punch holes into empty metal can; place candle inside.)

Party waste reduction tips

These suggestions can really reduce the amount you have to throw away after a party:

• Buy baking goods and snack food in bulk or large volumes.
• Use reusable tableware; if you don't have enough, ask to borrow reusable tableware from friends or family.
• Rent dishes, napkins, cups and saucers, tablecloths and glasses instead of using expensive disposables.
• Cut up last year's holiday cards and use as place cards.
• Use outdated calendars taped together to make a unique New Year's tablecloth.
• Place easily identifiable recycling containers at your celebration so guests can recycle their pop cans, bottles, etc.
• Encourage host or hostess to reuse and recycle bows, wrapping paper, cans, glass, etc.
• Point out the ways your party demonstrates waste reduction and recycling, and SPREAD THE WORD.

Reducing waste and giving “green gifts” during the holiday season

Think conservation, not consumption. There are many gifts that actually help people (especially younger ones) learn the value of saving resources, rather than spending them. We also include in this category gifts that don't require you to purchase any physical stuff. Avoid the trap of “How much should I spend?”

• Look for gifts that are unpackaged or minimally packaged, without unnecessary plastic wrap or cardboard backing.
• Evaluate the gift for simplicity and durability.
• Personalized "coupons," such as a night off from dish duty, a foot massage, etc.
• Give a donation to a charity in someone else’s name.
• Give services or time instead of stuff (music or language lessons, trip to a state park, etc.)
• Give tickets to sports, theater, concert or other event.
• Give an experience (for example, a ride in a hot air balloon or a river rafting trip).
• Consider the impact of your gift: Is it environmentally friendly and safe for children? Will it be reusable? Is it recyclable or made from recycled materials?
• Purchase holiday cards made from recycled paper or make your own from items found around the home. You may also choose to send electronic cards. 
• Help someone recycle – give a can crusher, a set of recycling bins or a recycling cart.
• Draw names or share the cost of a gift with a sibling or friend.
• Make a giant edible cookie holiday card; put on a personal greeting with icing.
• Give a garden! Seeds, gloves, tools, etc.
• Create a family recipe book or picture album.
• Give the gift of time Nothing costs less or means more than spending time with loved ones. Enjoy your family and friends, and your need to find joy through consumption will decline.

Other ideas for gifts:

• Membership to a museum or nonprofit organization.
• Theater tickets.
• Free baby-sitting service.
• New parents? How about diaper service for a month?
• Share in an environmental fund.
• Reusable lunch bag.
• Refillable pens.
• Energy-saving fluorescent light fixture or bulb. (Compact fluorescent bulbs last longer and use about 1/4 to 1/3 of the energy of an incandescent bulb. Substituting a compact fluorescent light for a traditional bulb will keep a half-ton of CO₂ out of the atmosphere over the life of the bulb.)
• 100% cotton dish towels or sheets; look for unbleached cotton.
• Reusable coffee cup.
• Gift basket filled with non-toxic household cleaners
• An old tricycle, bicycle, rocking chair, etc., fixed up to pass along as an heirloom.
• Automatic thermostat control device (automatically turns down heat at night).
• Compost bin.
• Reusable food storage containers.
• Cloth shopping bag.
• Cloth napkins and rings.
• House plant.
• Solar watch or calculator.
• Reusable razor.
• Durable hand tools.
• Durable wooden toys.
• Quilts and comforters.
• Water-saving showerhead.
• Gourmet dinner for a busy couple.
• Bird feeder and seed.
• A subscription to a favorite environmental magazine.
• Stationery – made from recycled paper, of course – and stamps.
• Reusable bags, bows and gift wrapping.
• Car safety kit packed into a coffee can (e.g. candles, orange hazard triangle, etc.).
• Shutoff-timer for watering the lawn.

Volunteer and Donate

Giving your time and/or money to worthy causes not only helps your community, but gives you a sense of contribution and involvement that is hard to quantify.

Start a new tradition—pick one night a month that your family will donate time at a local shelter handing out food. It is important for children to help others. Studies show that people who help others are healthier and happier.

Children who volunteer enhance their self-esteem as they learn new skills and make new friends. They see themselves as kind people capable of making a difference, and they learn to live a more hopeful life. Volunteer activities help build character and teach social responsibility, greater empathy and compassion. Teach that who you are is more important that what you have.

"Volunteer Coupons": Gift-giving ideas for children

Download coupons/gift certificates that you can print out and fill in with your own great ideas. PDF (233Kb) or JPEG image (80Kb)

Children want to give their family gifts, too, but limited budgets often make purchases difficult. Let them know that what you really want does not have to come from a store—their time is even more valuable. Maybe helping shovel snow this winter, or vacuuming the house is really the present you are looking for.

Coupon ideas

• Walking the dog after school each day for a period of time.
• Cooking some meals, or offering to help shop and clean up.
• Watching younger brother or sister.
• Commit to extra chores: Housecleaning, shoveling, lawn mowing.
• Make a book of family recipes.
• Putting together a scrap book or family tree.
• Hugs and kisses.

Gifts to avoid

• Over-packaged, resource-consuming gifts.
• Plastic or electric gadgets with limited use.
• Disposable products.
• Anything in aerosol containers (ask for non-aerosol alternatives).

After the holidays

• Save packing material, wrapping and tissue paper for reuse.
• Use leftover gift wrap to line shelves and dresser drawers.
• Cut up leftover wrap to make scratch pads.
• Save bows, ribbon, tags, festive bags and boxes for next year.
• Recycle your tree! Some communities make discarded holiday trees into mulch for use in community parks. Call your county for more information.
• Send used holiday cards (front picture only) to St. Jude's Ranch for Children, 100 St. Jude Street, Boulder City, Nevada 89005-1618. St. Jude's also accepts cards (front picture only) from all occasions. Children at St. Jude's will use your old cards to make new cards.

Green resolutions for the New Year

• Use only cloth cleaning towels.
• Install water-saving devices in your toilet and shower.
• Walk or bicycle at least one car errand weekly.
• Use reusable cloth shopping bags (keep reusable shopping bags in your car so they will always be handy).
• Use a reusable coffee cup at work.
• Switch to compact fluorescent lights to save energy.
• Turn down the thermostat at night.
• Recycle bottles, cans, newspaper, office paper, plastic and cardboard.
• Buy recycled products.
• Compost.
• Plant at least one tree.
• Turn off the shower while you soap to save water.
• Use biodegradable laundry soap rather than petroleum-based detergents.
• Reduce use of pesticides and other hazardous household chemicals. Use safer substitutes instead.
• Write or call legislators, store managers and others to let them know how you feel about environmental issues.
• Want to reduce waste from unwanted catalogs and direct mail? Request to remove your name from future mailing lists. CLICK HERE for more information.
  
  

Here Are Some Staggering Facts on Holiday Waste

 

Links you'll like

Tips and inspiration abound on the World Wide Web!