The same principles of being green apply to holiday decorations. Start with local, reuse and recycle and you’re off to a good start. By taking a few simple steps, your holidays can be festive and eco-friendly at the same time.
Tree tips.
Natural, live or artificial? Each has its pros and cons.
The reusable nature of an artificial tree may sound appealing, but most fake trees are made of petroleum-based materials in an energy-intensive process. Add on the transportation costs to ship the tree from the manufacturer to the retailer, and it’s not a very eco-friendly option.
Live trees are a renewable resource grown on tree farms. While growing, they contribute to improved air quality. While it just sounds wrong to cut down a tree, many municipalities use old Christmas trees for compost (check with your waste company for pick-up). As many pre-cut trees sold on lots need to be transported, which contributes to carbon emissions, it’s best to find a local, preferably organic, tree farm—then plan a family outing to cut your own.
Another option is a live potted tree that you can replant after Christmas. Just be sure the tree is well watered while it’s indoors and doesn’t get too warm. Ask your nursery for instructions.
Oooh, ahhh, ornaments.
Keep it natural. Instead of foil and tinsel, string cranberries and popcorn garlands. There’s always room for heirloom ornaments, but use walnuts, small pinecones, ribbons, cookies, and candy canes instead of buying new glass ornaments.
It’s a wrap.
Most commercial wrapping paper is not recyclable, as it contains metal fibers and foil. They encourage gift givers to get creative in their package wrapping. Reuse colorful items like old maps, flyers, decorated grocery bags, newspaper comics or kids art projects. Cloth items such as dish towels, scarves or fabric remnants also make good wrapping material—and provide and extra bonus gift. The Sierra Club estimates that if every family wrapped just three gifts this way, it would save enough virgin paper to cover 45,000 football fields. If you must use wrapping paper, save it and use the gently used paper next year.
Tie one on.
Reuse is also good approach for ribbon. If every family reused just 2 feet of holiday ribbon, 38,000 miles of ribbon would be saved—enough to tie a bow around the entire planet. Fabric ribbon or yarn, or natural materials such as cotton string or raffia, makes good ties.
Let it shine.
Most Americans see a 27% increase in their power usage over the holidays—much of that from decorative lights. LED lights, now widely available, are up to 90% more efficient that traditional Christmas tree lights and last about 200,000 hours. That’s a lot of merry brightness!
