Zero Waste Holiday Guide

Welcome to the Zero Waste Holiday Guide for 2019! We desire to live a green, eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyle. We care about the impact our lifestyle has on the Earth and the ways we can reduce negative outcomes for our planet. Sustainable holidays, Christmas especially, are possible! We can celebrate while keeping our values in line with our traditions. Here’s how:

Gifts

Packaging: In general, consumerism can and will add to a perpetual waste cycle. However, this does not negate our desire to gift our friends and family with thoughtful items intended to bring joy. Luckily, we have our zero waste holiday guide to help lead the way. If you’re purchasing gifts this year, consider eco-friendly wrapping and packaging. You can:

• Wrap gifts in fabric. Fabric you find at a bulk store, cut up old sweaters or even purchase textures you love like cotton or wool second hand.
• 100% Post Consumer Recycled Brown Craft Paper. This paper is wonderfully made from paper that’s already lived it’s first life and it isn’t bleached! You can find this at a local craft store or on Amazon.
• Real ribbons and bows. Yes, use real ribbons and bows. What do I mean by this? Tying up our gifts with biodegradable materials like cotton, linen, and even velvet that’s been ethically created without polyester or upcycled from used plasic, is the best choice to make this holiday season. Plasticy choices like the shiny bows you find in the dollar store are not healthy for our planet. Pro tip: purchase a velvet dress second hand from a local thrift store to cut into ribbon strips.
• Eco-friendly gift tape: There is such a thing! Most tapes are biodegradable, however, tapes like Scotch’s Magic Eco Tape is created from 75% post consumer recycled materials with a water soluble adhesive.

Ordering

As conscious consumers our minds wander to the impact our gift deliveries and purchases have on our communities and Earth. Some practical tips for the holiday season:

• Order local & Order small. I mean, order from your local small business crafter. There are some seriously talented folks around us! Instagram is a great way to find talent in your area through hashtags like #vermontmade and more. When you order from makers near you, you support a family in your community and cut back on delivery emissions.
• Order all at once. Hey, I am no pure Earth warrior here. I am doing my best to support local makers, our community, and the planet but I am still a busy mama and entrepreneur. I feel the magnetic vibes of convenience Amazon offers to women like me, and I too need to take advantage of Cyber Monday for the sake of sanity and sometimes budget. If you’re going to press the “order now” button, make sure you order all at once. Amazon and most other online stores offer delivering your products all at once. This significantly cuts back on emissions. So put it all in your cart, choose deliver together, and be done with it. Multiple small orders causes a lot of running around for those shippers and a lot of unnecessary CO2 for Mama Earth.
• Gift Cards. I said it, gift cards. We have a stigma surrounding gift cards, and it needs to be eradicated. Gift cards are often seen as a cop out for lack of thought, but truthfully, they’re the gift of giving exactly what a person wants. Let’s be honest, the Christmas return game is real, ya’ll. The consumer industry sees as much activity in gift exchanges after the holiday as it does prior to the holiday, and that hustle and bustle of returns is no good for the planet. If the gift even gets returned, sometimes, it’s thrown out. Yes, Auntie Sue, your cutsie hot coca mug packaged in an insane amount of plastic molding and cardboard is tossed aside after the glimmering non-recycable paper is torn off. Instead, opt for a $10 MasterCard gift card. If wrapping gifts feels special to you, then pop that gift card into a old shoebox and wrap away my friend.

Decor

I’ll be the first to tell you I am not getting a fake tree, a real Balsam Fir will be in my home every year. However, we don’t have to forgo all traditional decorating to help out Mama Earth. Here’s how:

• Glass, wood and otherwise natural fibers. Avoid plastic ornaments or garland for your tree. Look for wood carvings, glass blown ornaments, hand painted pottery, cotton yarn creations, or linen sewn figures to adorn your tree. I had a ton of fun crafting a beautiful garland from material scraps for our tree two years ago. No plastic tinsel here!
• LED Lights. Less energy used, the better. For the outdoors, consider solar charged LED lights to decorate your porches and more.
• Purchase second hand. Although I am a designer, I have a hard time splurging on things like decor for our home. If it doesn’t have a sense of utilitarian functionality, I am more apt to do without than to bring it home. Purchasing Christmas decor from yard sales, thrift stores, and upcycled crafts from makers has made it easier for me to decorate for the holidays and it’s great for our planet.

There’s a lot we could do to achieve a green holiday, a sustainable Christmas, or a zero waste holiday but these are my most practical tips for you. Incorporating all, or even just one, of these practices will help you feel good about the impact you’re having on Mama Earth this Christmas. 🎄I could go on, but for me, these are the most helpful zero waste holiday guide tips possible. Have more sustainable ideas for the holiday? Share with me on Instagram! I would love to hear from you there, or connect with me here.

xo

Kayce Mae