Wrapping Paper

Yep, another seasonal post...dealing with wrapping paper! How much wrapping paper do we really use in the holiday season? No doubt the number is up there. Here are a few suggestions to make the tradition a little more environmentally friendly.

1. This is the easiest! Recycle! All that lovely wrapping paper doesn't need to be bunched up and thrown into the trash, where it eventually will end up clogging a landfill. With the same amount of effort, the paper can be placed into a recycling bin.

2. Reuse! This might be a little tricky, depending on whether you are a patient or inpatient gift-opener. If you grab your gifts eagerly and tear right through the paper, it might be a little tough to put back together. However, I know a lot of people who like to unwrap their gifts slowly, without tearing the paper. Therefore, if you are one of the latter, you can reuse the gift wrap later. Usually the patterns, prints, and colors are so nice anyways, so I always feel bad just tossing it away.

Some of my friends have this wacky tradition of giving each other back the same square of wrapping paper. It's crazy - it's already changed hands several times.

3. Get some recycled gift wrap. Here's a website with some pretty cute designs. Another website has some plainer colors, if you like those. No doubt there are some stores around you with plenty of selection.

4. Be creative! Transform the comic page of the newspaper into gift wrap...maybe personalize smaller items such as gift cards with old letters. The possibilities are really endless.

This image is from Asia Ru.

Reuse Plastic Bags

My parents always get plastic when they grocery shop, so my pantry is full of wads of these plastic bags. I've found lots of good ways to reuse them, so I thought I'd share some with you.

1. Pack your lunch in them. Instead of buying and using those little brown paper bags, it's better to use something you already have. I find that plastic grocery bags work fine when packing a sandwich and a few sides. It doesn't keep the food from being squashed and its not a great insulator, but it works. Of course, an even better container to pack a lunch in is a reusable bag that I blogged about it this post.

2. Use them to line trash cans. Of course, they won't really work in your kitchen (I know my trash can needs those 30 gallon sturdy black bags to work), but they are really handy for those little trash bins in my bedroom and bathroom.

3. Bring them back to the store. Plastic bags take up no space at all and are pretty convenient to stuff in your purse and use again. Of course, too many uses may result in tearing, so you might be better of with one of these reusable bags.

4. Recycle them! Supermarkets in my town now have containers that let you recycle plastic bags, so there might be some where you live as well (Richmond isn't exactly known for being environmentally progressive).

5. Use them as "packing peanuts." I've actually never tried this, but I'm sure it could work! Stuff them in a package to cushion the item.

Anyone else have some great ideas for using plastic blags?
This image is from Captain Pao. Sorry if the "idiots" part offends anyone - I would substitute "silly" in if I could photoshop well.

Visit Throwplace.com

Do you have lots of old items that could be useful to someone else? I know I do- pieces of furniture that don't match, electronic equipment I don't want, outgrown clothing- but sometimes it's too much work to have a yard sale that probably won't make too much money anyways. Besides, my goal isn't to make money, just to get rid of some stuff.

I could donate to the Salvation Army, but I never know when their pick-up times are, and the Goodwill is too far for me to lug my stuff to. I could recycle, but as I went over in this post, it isn't always the best thing to do.

Well, put Throwplace.com into the picture! Your junk could really become someone's treasure (and vice versa). Here's a website that let's you post up items you don't want, so other individuals/businesses/charities can pick them up.

There's a section to "throw into" - where you list items you have and don't want, and a section to "take from" - where you can look for something you might need. You never know what you may find, and it's good to know that your unneeded possessions are put to good use by someone who does need them.

This unique website allows items to be continually reused, which reduces cost and consumption, qualities we all need right now.

Use a Real Lunch Bag/Box

Remember that unpopular kid in middle school who always lugged around a big, bulky lunchbox? Well, reusable lunchboxes and bags have since made a comeback!

Bringing lunches in small brown paper sacks and plastic bags may seem convenient and appealing, but those flimsy things can really do some damage to the environment! Think of all the trees and oil needed to create the materials in the first place, and then the fossil fuels used to manufacture the raw goods into the picture perfect squares. Then there's the fact that rarely do school cafeterias or workplace lunchrooms have recycling bins. Sadness.

Say you bring in a bag each day for lunch. That's obviously 365 bags a year, and 3650 bags for each decade. Over the course of your lifetime, you may discard over 300,000! Quite literally, a ton. Even paper, usually biodegradable, will probably not be able to decompose in a landfill environment, where it is compressed tightly and buried under all sorts of garbage.

Luckily, there are many new and fashionable alternatives to the boring and destructive brown paper bag. Seriously, look at this adorable one from Green Home.
It's made out of certified organic cotton. Here's the Savvy Snack Bag from Etsy.

This Next also has a bunch of stylish designs, for adults and children alike.

Unbearably cute! I want one of those!

There are so many options to chose from. If you don't really fancy any of these examples, I am sure there will be one to your liking somewhere on the internet.

Reduce > Reuse > Recycle

Recycling is all the rage these days! Companies proudly label their containers with statements such as "Made of 100% recycled paper," while some people obsessively put away every scrap of plastic and paper into the green bins. However, there are strategies even better than recycling for the environment.

Many people do not think of it, but recycling does require additional energy to process. Fossil fuels are needed to break down the old material, remix, and reshape the final product. The reason why recycling is better than throwing away is because first of all, there is no need to extract more of the material (paper from trees, etc.), and second, landfills don't get further clogged.

Reusing is a strategy that eliminates one step from the process. Of course, you have the initial manufacturing of the product, but you don't have the whole extra processes related to recycling. Items easy to reuse:

• Small plastic snack baggies


• Paper bags


• Glass jars


• Cans (Be creative! Pencil holders, anyone?


• Paper (Use the back of that scrap piece as your shopping list)

Reducing and reusing go hand in hand. If you reuse certain items, you obviously will reduce the amount you buy. Reducing is the best strategy environmentally, because since you cut down on the amount you consume, you skip both the recycling process and the intial manufacturing process. So, do you really need two paper towels for that little spill? Can you use two sides of the paper when writing? Little changes like those really can reduce the amount you buy.

You can't reduce everything, but what you can't reduce, you most of the time can reuse, and what you can't reuse, hopefully you can recycle. A combination of these strategies will lead to a more sustainable lifestyle.

This image is from the Penwith District Council.