Our neighborhood holiday traditions have been energy intensive. One of the worst offenders was incandescent Christmas lights. But now we need to discard lots of our old Christmas string lights as we replace with LED’s and solar lights. These add a significant amount of plastic to our environment if not recycled! But fortunately there are several outlets that recycle them.
You can purchase a pass to cut a live Christmas tree for your home in several Colorado Ranger Districts. The permitss are available on Recreation.gov. and trees cost either $10 or $20 per tree depending on the forest.
If you bring home a live tree there are several options for recycling it after the holidays. Look for the sites in your own community webpages. Jefferson County also takes full pickup loads of “slash” for $24.
Decorations can be donated to resell shops and repurchased annually! This is a way to avoid storing them and to refresh your tired looks each year. Resell shops benefit from your donations twice.
Wrapping paper is one of the biggest sources of waste during Christmas. However, newspaper and packing paper are recyclable. Wrapping paper can be recycled if it isn't laminated, too thin, or glittered. If you prefer, you can use a Christmas stamp and ink pad or paints to decorate plain paper. Other options include reusable bags kept from previous years and fabric. For larger gifts, decorative pillowcases are a good choice.
Regifting has been a popular method to manage the holiday budget, and it also reduces excess manufacturing, particularly during office or neighborhood exchanges. However, there are some guidelines to follow.
Holiday waste can be greatly increased by food packaging. While we do use our own grocery bags, it's important to select products that aren't pre-packaged, such as meat from the butcher counter or deli, and to steer clear of non-recyclable films and containers.
For those hard to recycle items check out a service that is gaining in popularity!
Keep sustainability in mind and have a wonderful, beautiful holiday season!
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