Is It Possible to Reduce Paper Use During the Holidays?

So many holiday traditions in America involve consumption. There’s the Christmas gift giving to people who already have so much. And all of those gifts need wrapped, so you use yards of wrapping paper and ribbons, along with glitzy gift bags, tissue paper and bows. Don’t forget about Christmas cards.

There’s just so much waste. My family is as guilty of the paper profusion as any other family.

Is there a way to cut back on using so much during this “most wonderful time of the year”?

I think so.

Try some of these easy ideas this Christmas season and see if you don’t notice a change – both in your pocketbook and in your trash can.

Gift giving
There are a lot of creative alternatives to typical wrapping paper. If you definitely need a wrapped gift, try using some cool art from a glossy magazine page. My brother does this for every Christmas and birthday, and I look forward to seeing the artsy images he chooses for me and my gifts.

If your gift can be bagged, recycle a gently used, recycled gift bag. (Spoiler alert to my family and friends: I rarely buy gift bags, but usually carefully store and reuse ones I’ve received.) If you’re feeling super resourceful, try reusing gently used tissue paper, too.

Don’t pitch the really worn gift bags, though – simply reuse them for storage or to carry things around. I like to deliver food for the families of new babies in old baby gift bags. If the bags are too wrinkly for gifts, they’re perfectly fine for carrying a meal.

This year I noticed reusable cloth gift bags – unlike cloth grocery bags, these sturdy bags have amazingly cute holiday patterns all over them and are sold in a variety of sizes.

In a similar vein, you could try to wrap foodie gifts in things like cloth napkins or funky kitchen towels. For personal gift, use a festive silk scarf.

As long as baskets look like new, regift or recycle ones you already have. Fill them with all sorts of cool goodies and the basket contents will be the focal point of the gift – not the basket.

And don’t forget to reuse your bows! As long as they’re still in good shape, no one will notice they’re not brand new. (And even if they do notice, who cares?)

Can you recycle wrapping paper?
If you do use wrapping paper, you may be able to recycle it. Check first with your city’s recycling department to find out if it’s acceptable in your community.

Wrapping paper that has a better chance of being recycled is a thicker paper that doesn’t have metallic or glitter patterns. Also, wrapping paper covered in sticky tape can’t be recycled.

Cards
My inner pack rat has an obsession with keeping Christmas cards. Call me sentimental, but I can still see who was decking my halls in 1995. (Sadly, this is not a joke.) Recently I’ve culled my cards, though. I’ve kept everything that means a lot to me, and have recycled the rest. My kids can cut up old cards to make their own holiday creations. Plus, I’ve started making gift tags by cutting out cool photos from old cards. They really spruce up wrapped gifts.

Talk back
What have you used to creatively cut back on holiday paper clutter?

Photo credit
Master isolated images/FreeDigitalPhotos.net