The winter holiday
season is a time for family, friends, cooking, gifts… and waste.
Yep, you heard right.
The holiday season in the United States actually generates 25% more
trash than any other time of the year. From Thanksgiving to New Year’s,
Americans throw out an extra 25 million tons of waste, the equivalent of 1
million extra tons per week. (This information was taken from Use Less
Stuff’s 42 Ways to Trim Your Holiday Wasteline.)
Below are some tips and further reading to help your
business reduce its impact on the environment this season.
At your Company’s Holiday Party
-Organize the party so people can carpool or take
public transportation.
-Use reusable dishes – ask employees to bring their own cup to the
party, rent
holiday dishes.
-Plan food portions wisely and buy based on the number of guests you
expect.
-Buy organic and local!
-Consider composting the scraps of food waste.
-Donate extra food to a local food pantry.
-If the party is being hosted outside the office, look for a space/service
that
considers their environmental impact and can help you better plan
the gathering.
Decorating the Office
-Consider a potted tree or plants to decorate.
-Have employees bring in extra decorations from home.
-Make home/office-made decorations out of potential waste or natural
materials.
-Buy light strands that are wired in parallel so if one bulb burns out,
the rest stay
lit.
-Repackage carefully and save the decorations to reuse next year.
Spreading Holiday Cheer
-Send holiday postcards instead of cards – saves paper, envelopes
and postage.
-Send seasons greetings by e-mail instead of paper.
When Exchanging Gifts
-Wrap gifts in scarves, newspaper comics, reused wrapping paper
-Choose non-material gifts such as charitable donations in someone’s
name or
gift certificates to a performance or massage.
-Shop at antique stores, holiday bazaars, and thrift shops.
-Donate unwanted gifts to charity.
-Purchase gifts with recycled content or that are environmentally
preferred (for
more info on this see (WasteCap’s
December Buy Recycled Tip).
Looking to reduce your consumption further, read “42 Ways to Trim Your
Holiday Wasteline” from Use Less Stuff: http://www.use-less-stuff.com/
You can also learn more about “Simplifying the
Holidays” from the Center for a New American Dream at: http://www.newdream.org/holiday/home.html
For Wood-wise holidays, check out Coop America's site at:
http://www.coopamerica.org/woodwise/consumerguideholidays.htm
For a general overview, check out this Environmental Network News article
at:
http://enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/12/12182000/holidaywaste_40822.asp
To learn how
one family chose to celebrate Christmas, read “Recycled Christmas: One
Family's Revolution Against the Shopping Mall”on AlterNet.org:
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11953
For ideas on how to incorporate energy conservation
and environmental concerns into your celebration of Hanukkah, visit:
http://www.coejl.org/Hanukkah/
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