According to a Stanford University article, from Thanksgiving day to New Years day, Americans throw away 25% more trash than any other time of year. That extra waste amounts to approximately 25 million tons of excess garbage! It adds up from each and every one of us, which leaves it up to all of us to take the easy steps to reduce our holiday waste this year.
Here’s 5 quick and easy tips for Minimizing Your Eco-Footprint while shopping this Holiday Season:
1. Minimal or no packaging: Get it!
The packaging associated with holiday shopping and gifts is a large contributor to Holiday excess waste. Find gifts and brands that use no to minimal packaging. At Recover, our minimal packaging for shipped orders is 100% compostable, meaning it’s made from sustainable materials that break down into compost- AKA zero waste. If you are buying gifts with minimal packaging, look for packaging that is compostable or recyclable.
2. How to recycle any packaging you do end up with properly…
If you do end up with non-compostable packaging, look for ways to reuse or recycle it rather than throw it out. You can reuse packaging such as bubble wrap for sending your own packages, and sometimes, you can return packing air pillows and peanuts to local shipping stores. Many recycling options for packaging materials differ and are specific to certain area’s recycling center capacities; however, you can almost always recycle cardboard boxes and for other packaging items, check for recycle symbols, what your local recycling center’s capacity is, and follow up accordingly.
3. Use Curbside if you can
Whenever possible, go with curbside pick-up vs. shipping. Increases in the amount of shipping (particularly rapid vs. standard) during the holidays bumps up fossil fuel powered-transportation significantly according to a Scientific American article, which both contributes to increases in climate change and has a negative impact on air quality in the U.S. So get your shopping done early to avoid need for rapid shipping, and swing by for curbside pick-up of your holiday gifts, including your Recover holiday gifts if you’re near Charlotte, NC.
4. Wrap it up in style…
If every family in the U.S. reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, 38,000 miles of ribbon would be saved this holiday season. That 38,000 miles of ribbon is long enough to tie a bow around the entire planet. Beyond that, if every American family wrapped 3 presents in reused materials, the paper saved would cover over 45,000 football fields. This holiday season, go for the classy and fun reused materials wrapping “paper”… have fun and enjoy the creativity, whether you use old newspapers, old calendars, a thrift store-bound t-shirt, whatever! This can be really fun and make for a great scene under the tree. If you do buy wrapping paper or ribbon, seek out those made of recycled and sustainable materials.
5. Support Local
Shop local and support small, local businesses in sales of environmentally-friendly and socially responsible gifts. Shopping local not only supports local businesses, it also reduces shipping costs, and climate change costs incurred with overseas supply chains.
Since last spring, Recover has:
- Co-launched over 110 online fundraisers featuring Recover tees available for purchase with part of the proceeds going to a cause, organization, or small business during this time.
- Over 7,000 Recover shirts have been sold through our #SupportLocal Initiative
- Over $70,000 has been raised for our Small Business Partners
Whether supporting local through purchases of locally-made (within 250 miles of our headquarters) Recover apparel and accessories, of our co-launched fundraiser tees, or at eco-friendly and socially-responsible small businesses in your area, support local this holiday season!
