Holidays do not have to be wasteful. We default to the same old wasteful habits because we are in a hurry and feeling overwhelmed by everything that has to get done, but that does not have to be our holiday! We can be more mindful about how we do holidays. All it takes is wanting to do it. View our Sustainable Holidays presentation for full details.

Making your holidays more sustainable might mean rethinking how you approach gift giving, decorating, or entertaining – or all three. But what does being sustainable actually mean? A few questions to ask yourself include:

• What is involved in the making, using, and disposing of this product?
• How did this product get in my hands in the first place?
• How have I served my community?
• How have I protected or enhanced the natural environment?

You don’t have to be perfect or know all of the answers. Even considering these questions will lead you toward making more thoughtful and intentional decisions throughout the holiday season.

Gift Giving

It’s important above all to be thoughtful when  you give gifts. Giving someone a gift that they don’t want or don’t like has consequences: 1/3 of Americans who got a gift they didn’t like threw it in the trash. And retailers throw away about 25% of returned products, which adds up to more than 5 billion pounds of trash every year! So think like a journalist when choosing gifts:

• Who – who are you gifting? Be thoughtful and deliberate in your gift giving
• What – what are you getting them? Is it something they want?
• When – when are you going shopping? when are you gifting this? Is it timely?
• Where – where are you getting it? Shop locally when possible
• Why – why are you choosing this gift over other options? 
• How – how are you wrapping it? Cloth or Kraft paper with natural decorations are better options
• Bonus – what will happen at the end of this gift’s life?

A few ideas for more sustainable gift options include gifts of time, experiences, family heirlooms, thoughtfully thrifted items, gift certificates, and handmade items. Get creative! If you purchase your gift, try to support local businesses. Did you know that over $70 of a $100 purchase made at a local business stays in the community, compared to less than $40 out of $100 spent at a big box store? Keeping your dollars local boosts your community and benefits your neighbors.

Decorating

Making your home festive adds to holiday cheer. But your decorations need not be wasteful, and you don’t need to rush out and buy the newest set of plastic things every year that you will just throw away. The most sustainable holiday decorations are ones you can use over and over, ones you make yourself from natural materials, and ones you can compost. Get creative, and look for reusable items at thrift stores or yard sales (pro tip: keep an eye out in spring and summer when people are cleaning out their storage areas). Gather natural items like grasses, leaves, evergreen branches, pinecones, and acorns when you are out for a walk, and come up with artsy ways of using them around your home to up your holiday game.

Christmas trees: real or fake? This is a tough question and there are different ways of measuring the environmental impact of a Christmas tree. For example, real trees: where were they grown, and how far did they travel to get to you? For artificial trees: how durable is it, what is it made of, and how many years will you reuse it? One year, a fun option might be to buy a small potted tree and plant it in your yard after the holidays are over, and let it flourish there for decades. But not everyone has the space or desire to do this. Ultimately, we feel that a natural tree is a better choice than an artificial tree, because it will ultimately break down into mulch or compost. Additionally, many artificial trees are made of PVC (plastic) and lead, which cause health and environmental problems during production, use, and disposal.

Entertaining

Holiday gatherings don’t need to result in overflowing trash cans full of paper plates and cups and headaches caused by never being able to fully clean up glitter! Steer clear of single-use things like cups and plates and utensils. If you are hosting parties at your workplace, community group, or faith community, make a policy where people bring their own set of a plate, bowl, cup, cutlery, and a cloth napkin – and take those home with them and wash them! Likewise, make your own little partygoer’s kit of reusables and take it with you to any gatherings you attend. People have been entertaining for millennia, and it is only in the last 50 years that we have gotten used to single-use items. Oddly enough, we also started seeing overwhelming plastic pollution—the US has the highest concentration of microplastic fibers in drinking water than anywhere else in the world.

Speaking of single-use items, skip the plastic wrap and Ziploc bags at holiday meals. Send leftovers home in reusable containers (and bring a reusable leftover container with you in your own party pack too!). Any food waste can be composted to prevent it from winding up in a landfill. And when you are shopping for holiday events, remember to bring your reusable bags.

Remember, no one is perfect and you do not have to take all of the suggestions here. It’s better to do a lot of sustainable actions imperfectly than not to try at all. The more you build thoughtful habits for the holidays, the easier it will be to keep them going for the rest of the year, and quite likely you will have a more memorable time! Recognize that you are part of an ecosystem that is made up of natural, human, and economic elements. It flourishes when you care for it, and it withers when you do not. Happy Holidays from Clean Fairfax!