Lighten Up the Holidays with Less Waste, More Imagination

by Sarah Baldwin

It’s estimated that in the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, Americans throw out 25 percent more trash than at any other time of year; that amounts to about 1 million tons per week of additional material going to landfills. This waste is in multiple categories: packaging, including wrapping paper, ribbon (38,000 milesof it), cards, and shipping materials; the gifts themselves, which may be redundant or simply not wanted; food (up to 40 percent of foodin the United States never gets eaten); and Christmas trees, both real and fake.When you look back on holidays past, what do you remember most happily? Maybe it’s a choral concert you attended with a friend, or a snowy post-meal walk you took with your kids, or an especially festive party. Chances are it’s not the iPhone you were given in 2008 or the battery-operated fuzz remover that was in your stocking last year. In the end the presents, particularly impersonal ones, are not as memorable as other aspects of the holidays.Likewise for the act of giving: I take pleasure in wandering our fair city seeking out thoughtful, person-specific presents. For me it’s an opportunity to engage imaginatively with people I love as I consider what might delight or prove useful to them. It’s also a chance to engage with the town itself, since I linger in places I might not spend much time in the rest of the year. I don’tenjoy going online and clicking a “Buy It Now” button for a generic, preselected item that gets shipped to me so I can wrap it and then ship it somewhere else, though I admit I’ve done my share of that in recent years.If someone on your list has everything and more already, consider giving a personally resonant gift certificate: a trip to Ojo Caliente, a night on the town, a few hours of free labor. Some people appreciate donations made in their name to a favorite charity. Another option is to give a special item of your own to someone who might love it anew (I’m not talking about regifting here: that stuff is best donated). Of course, homemade treats like baked goods, jams, and liqueurs presented in reusable tins and bottles are almost always welcome.If possible get creative with wrappings—the funny pages, maps, fabric—and reuse as much new wrapping paper and ribbon as you can. I have a dedicated box full of ribbon from previous presents. Cut out images from old calendars, catalogs, or last year’s holiday cards to make gift tags. Send out recyclable cards judiciously: hand-written notes to a modest number of people are more impactful than a typed message sent via a remote service to everyone on your contact list.Below are some resources offering useful information and more tips on how to reduce holiday waste. And while you’re being so good, drink a little eggnog and put on some old-fashioned holiday tunes, like this classic albumor this little numberby Handel.

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