In the Wake of Christmas Lies

… lots of waste! Here’s the truth about our heavy holiday footprint. Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, U.S. household waste increases 25%; 1,000,000 extra tons hit the landfills. You may be surprised but to go green for this Christmas, the National Resources Defense Council says real trees are more eco-friendly. In the world of convenience, it’s so nice to put up a pre-lit Christmas tree and not hassle with the pine needles, watering the tree and putting lights on it. Did you know that 80% of American households display artificial trees? Another solution is to not buy a cut tree or pre-lit artificial trees; there are many stores that sell potted fir trees that even flocked, from small to large in size.

Here are some more ideas on lessening your footprint this next holiday season. Use LED lights – it uses 1/6 less electricity compared to conventional lights. Throw out those old lights and update your Christmas lights. There are some fun features to LED lights now and they can be remote controlled as well! Recycle your Christmas trees. Check with your local municipality because they usually have a tree drop off location after Christmas. Re-use gift wrapping, and repurpose! My grandma told that during the Depression they used twine and string to wrap presents and re-purposed any paper they had. Back then it was a necessity and nowadays it’s a novelty. Also, don’t use shiny, sparkly wrapping paper because most of it is not recyclable. I love gift bags and will save them and use them year after year. (Yes, I’m one of those people.) And I also re-use tissue paper. I keep a box for the gift bags, tissue paper, ribbons and bows I recycle for year round use. Honestly, I can’t think of the last time I bought a gift bag or tissue paper.

I hope some of these ideas sparked some interest in being proactive for the holidays next year. Knowing my audience, I’m pretty sure you are already doing some of these things. If you have some great ideas to contribute, please feel free to reach out to me. Add media to your posts