The holidays are notorious in the solid waste and recycling industry as the most wasteful time of the year. The U.S. produces 25 percent more waste during the holidays than the rest of the year. That’s equivalent to an extra one million tons headed to the landfill each week! Recycling facilities also see a huge increase in contamination as people “wish-cycle” materials. The good news is that there are steps everyone can take to decrease holiday waste and ensure we recycle correctly.
One major contributor to holiday waste is gift-wrapping materials. It is estimated that 2.3 million pounds of wrapping paper end up in landfills each year. Wrapping paper can be recycled if it is free of non-paper additives such as glitter, plastic, or foil. You can test its recyclability with “The Scrunch Test.” If you can scrunch wrapping paper into a ball and it stays together, it can be recycled. If the ball does not hold, the wrapping paper must be thrown in the garbage. An easier way to reduce wrapping waste is to wrap gifts in reused materials rather than new wrapping paper.
There's no need to buy wrapping paper!
Try reusing:
- Brown paper grocery bags (bonus points for drawing your own design)
- Cookie tins
- Magazines and newspapers
- Paper maps
- Reusable bags
- Sheet music
- Scarves, bandanas, and fabric scraps: Take inspiration from Furoshiki, the traditional Japanese method of wrapping objects in fabric. Cloths such as bandanas or scarves can be elegantly folded around gifts and reused by your gift recipient for years to come.
Got Questions?
Use the Raleigh Reuse Waste Wizard and App to get your holiday recycling and waste questions answered!