Talk with your family and friends about the difference between abundance of joy and abundance of stuff.
- Keep it Simple. make a plan to reduce stress and waste.
- Need vs. Want. be a mindful shopper, make lists, and set a budget.
- Share with Others. be generous with your time and thoughtfulness.
15 ways to avoid waste this Christmas
- Use recycled paper for present wrapping.
- Make a shopping list and only buy what you need.
- Buy reusable items.
- Buy items with less packaging.
- Upcycle.
- Turn old rubbish into beautiful decorations.
- Recycle.
- Give old furniture a good home.
The UK is estimated to use 300 million plastic cups and straws at Christmas parties. Each year, the UK spends a combined total of around £700 million on unwanted presents! 227,000 miles of wrapping paper is thrown away each year. Instead of being recycled, 1 billion Christmas cards are also put in the bin.
The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that between 30 and 40 percent of the food supply goes to waste each year, with the heaviest losses occuring during the winter holidays.
The Carbon Trust reports that a 2m tree that is felled from a forest that ends up as wood chips or on a bonfire after Christmas has a carbon footprint of 3.5kg of CO2e. If that tree is sent to landfill, then the carbon footprint increases to 16kg of CO2e.
Accumulated, this means that during the Christmas season, we eat as a nation, 80 per cent more food than during the rest of the year. In fact, the University of Manchester recently calculated that our combined Christmas dinners produce the same carbon footprint as a single car travelling 6,000 times around the world.
Paper production.Producing the paper needed to create the cards not only contributes to deforestation, which is one of our biggest environmental problems, but also many emissions in the process required to turn that wood into paper.
It is estimated that Americans spend $2.6 billion on wrapping paper a year.
Before recycling, remove any sticky tape and decorations such as ribbons and bows as these cannot be recycled. Wrapping paper can only be recycled if it passes the scrunch test - simple paper wrap can be recycled but foil or glitter-decorated paper cannot and needs to go in the general waste.
With approximately $2.9 billion of gift wrap and related accessories sold annually, according to Hallmark research, Americans have a lot of wrapping to do before this Christmas.
Cutesy, shiny paper goes where everything glittery goes: the landfill. Wrapping paper is ridiculous. It creates millions of tons of waste; some estimates claim half of it ends up in landfills.
According to the National Christmas Tree Association, there are close to 350 million Christmas trees currently growing on Christmas tree farms in the United States alone and about 25 to 30 million real Christmas trees sold every year.
a billion Christmas cards
Eight Ways to Reduce Waste
- Use a reusable bottle/cup for beverages on-the-go.
- Use reusable grocery bags, and not just for groceries.
- Purchase wisely and recycle.
- Compost it!
- Avoid single-use food and drink containers and utensils.
- Buy secondhand items and donate used goods.
- Shop local farmers markets and buy in bulk to reduce packaging.
Five Principles of Zero-waste From the Experts*
- Refuse - refuse to buy things with lots of packaging.
- Reduce - don't buy things you don't really need.
- Reuse - repurpose worn out items, shop for used goods, and purchase reusable products like steel water bottles.
- Compost - up to 80 percent of waste by weight is organic.
Some cities, like San Francisco and Seattle, are able to recycle more than they send to landfills, but the majority of the U.S. sends their trash to the dump. Beyond landfills, waste in the U.S. also goes to recycling centers, composters and waste-to-energy plants.
According to the United Nations we dump 2.12 billion tons of waste every year.
How much trash does the average American produce a day? According to the EPA, the average American person will produce about 5.91 pounds of trash, with about 1.51 pounds being recycled; 4.40 pounds is the rough average daily waste per person.
Largest waste producing countries worldwide per capita 2019Worldwide, the biggest producer of waste per capita is Canada. At an estimated 36.1 metric tons per year, this was 10 metric tons more per capita than the United States.
Most everyone agrees, however, that actually reaching the point where absolutely no waste is created is unlikely. Zero waste is a goal that we know we really can't get to. But [it] also is a process, with very clear environmental, social and economic benefits.
Sources of waste can be broadly classified into four types: Industrial, Commercial, Domestic, and Agricultural.
- Industrial Waste. These are the wastes created in factories and industries.
- Commercial Waste. Commercial wastes are produced in schools, colleges, shops, and offices.
- Domestic Waste.
- Agricultural Waste.
The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually, with at least 33 percent of that—extremely conservatively—not managed in an environmentally safe manner. Worldwide, waste generated per person per day averages 0.74 kilogram but ranges widely, from 0.11 to 4.54 kilograms.
Americans spend more than $7 billion on wrapping paper each year, according to Sundale Research. With so much of that torn off of gifts during the holiday season, you might think the influx of supply would drive the price down.
WIDTH. The width of your paper should be equal to the width of your box, plus twice the height. For example, for a 12-inch wide box that's three inches high, the paper should be as wide as 12+3+3 — so 18 inches.
