How to waste less during the holidays
Between gifts, decorations, and big meals, the most wonderful time of the year is also the most wasteful. It can feel like you have to decide between celebrating and sustainability.
You don’t actually have to choose! We’re sharing tips to avoid sending extra stuff to the landfill while you enjoy everything you love about the season.
Just how wasteful is this time of year? People in the US produce 25% more trash than usual between November first and the new year, increasing by an incredible 4 to 5 million tons.
The most impactful sources of extra waste during the holidays include gift wrap, greeting cards, returned gifts that aren’t resold, and food waste.
By the way, we’ll link to some brands here and in the attached guides. We’ve made picks based on our own research and aren’t being compensated for any business we send their way. We’re just trying to help you find waste-less solutions easily.
What you’ll learn
These tips will give you ideas about how to be more environmentally friendly during the holiday season. Lots of the ideas apply all year, too!
You’ll discover:
Is wrapping paper recyclable? How to quickly test whether paper goes in the recycling bin or garbage can.
Can you recycle greeting cards? What to look for so you know if your cards are recyclable.
What should you do with gifts you don’t want? Return them? What other options are there?
What kind of tree is most environmentally friendly? If a tree is part of your holiday celebration, should you choose live or artificial?
How can you reduce food waste during the holidays? What steps can you take to plan the right amount of food for a dinner party?
Can you recycle Styrofoam and bubble wrap? Or are they trash? (Hint: Ridwell takes them!)
Eco friendly gift wrap and greeting cards
Between birthdays throughout the year, holiday gifting, host thank-yous, and new year greetings, we all have times when we use wrapping paper and greeting cards.
Earth 911 estimates that 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper are produced annually and 2.3 million end up in landfills, assuming only half is recycled or reused. A large portion of the 2.65 billion holiday cards Americans buy every year are also sent to landfills.
Good news: it doesn’t take extra work to wrap gifts and give cards less wastefully. You just need to know what to watch out for. (Spoiler alert: glitter.)
A lot of wrapping paper and greeting cards can be recycled, and some can be composted. Plus, there are both DIY and easy-to-shop alternatives to traditional gift wrapping.
Here are the most important things to remember about planet-friendly gift wrap and greeting cards.
Look out for glitter, metallic accents, velvety flocking, and glossy coatings. These materials are the main culprits that make paper non-recyclable. If you avoid these things, the paper you give can likely be recycled curbside, even if there’s still some tape attached.
Any paper that’s just paper is curbside recyclable, even if it’s printed. Non-recyclable coatings are the hardest no-no to spot. They’re usually glossy, but how glossy is too glossy? An easy way to check: scrunch it. If the paper stays in a ball, it’s likely recyclable. Paper with non-recyclable coating will bounce back more than pure paper. Of course, you won’t likely be able to scrunch while shopping but this test works on paper you receive and what you already have on hand.
If you can’t reuse paper that may not be recyclable, it’s better to put it in the garbage than in your curbside recycling bin. Otherwise, whole bales of material are likely to be rejected at recycling centers. When a giant batch of paper arrives at a recycling facility, even one glittery card can send the whole thing to the landfill. So, if you receive “fancy” paper, avoid mixing it with your recyclables. The same goes for traditional bows, which are often not recyclable because of glue, and ribbons, which get caught in recycling machinery.
You can buy or make alternatives to traditional wrapping paper. Lots of retailers offer less wasteful options. Brands like Wrappily and Tokki offer creative solutions you can buy conveniently online. If you’d rather craft than shop, explore repurposed materials like cut-up t-shirts, maps, or even bedsheets. Bonus idea: make the wrapper a gift, too! Tote bags, scarves, and tea towels are all awesome presents that can hide other gifts inside.
Want to learn more about sustainable wrapping paper? See our guide >
Keeping gifts out of the landfill
When most of us receive a gift we don’t love, we return it and get something else—but it turns out the things we return are likely to end up in the landfill. According to a 2022 report from retail returns platform Optoro, 9.5 billion pounds of returned items go to landfills every year. Many of those returns happen in January.
The retail industry is starting to solve the returns problem by creating ways to resell unwanted products, most commonly in peer-to-peer programs (you post your item and send it directly to the buyer) and take back programs (you send the item to the brand and they resell or recycle it).
Still, convenient resell options are far from common. Let’s look at other ways to keep unwanted gifts out of the landfill.
Give it to someone in your community. If you don’t already know of a local organization that takes donations of your unwanted item, consider posting it on your local Buy Nothing group—you’ll make the day happier for an appreciative neighbor.
Sell it to someone who sees the value. Check if the brand that made your gift has a takeback or peer-to-peer resale program to make a few dollars or earn brand credit. If not, consider looking into other secondhand platforms like Poshmark or Depop.
Regift it to someone the item reminds you of. Regifting may have a cringey reputation, but if you know a friend will use something you won’t, passing it along is a planet-friendly choice.
As a gift giver, avoiding waste comes down to thoughtful selection. This may mean asking people what they really want, giving gift cards or experiences instead of things, or researching the retailers you shop from to find out what they do with returned items.
Looking for gift ideas? See our guide >
What kind of tree is best for you?
If trimming a tree is part of your holiday celebrations, you have a big decision to make: What kind of tree is best for you?
Whether you choose artificial or live, here are the top ways to minimize the environmental impact of your tree.
Use artificial trees over and over. Artificial trees are appealing because they “live” practically forever and require no care. The key to sustainably celebrating with an artificial tree is to use it for as long as possible—around 12 years is what it takes to equal the impact of buying a live tree every year. If you’re looking to buy one, search for options made with recycled PVC or consider a secondhand one to extend its life out of the landfill.
If you choose a live tree, be mindful of how you get rid of it. Live trees are a renewable resource, but using them for the holidays comes with a carbon footprint. The footprint of a tree sent to the landfill is quadruple the footprint of one that’s turned into wood chips or used in a bonfire. Also bear in mind that buying a locally grown tree reduces emissions involved in transporting it.
Potted trees are very sustainable. In many areas, you can rent a potted tree and return it for replanting. Or, if you have a green thumb, you can buy one to care for all year outdoors and bring it inside for up to two weeks during the holidays.
We can’t talk so much about holiday trees without mentioning lights! If you haven’t switched to LED yet, consider making the change. According to the US Department of Energy, LED lights use up to 90% less energy than incandescent and last up to 25 times longer, keeping them out of the landfill. Ridwell members can recycle incandescent strands with us in January.
When decorating your home, the best way to waste less is to reuse what you have year after year and only buy new things that you know you’ll want to use consistently.
Two things to avoid: fake snow and tinsel. They’re made from polystyrene and PVC, respectively, and difficult to reuse. If you love the look of “snow” but not the plastic, you can easily find less wasteful alternatives to make your own around the web.
Still curious about the great live vs artificial debate? Read more >
Entertaining with less food waste
The US Department of Agriculture estimates that 30-40% of our food supply goes to waste every year, with the most losses during the holiday season.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy meals and gatherings with loved ones during the holidays! It just means a little extra planning is worthwhile.
Step-by-step, minimizing food waste while entertaining looks like this.
Know how many guests you expect. Sending an evite can be an easy way to keep count, whether you’re planning a feast or a party with simple bites.
Decide how much food you’ll need. The Guestimator is a useful interactive dinner party food calculator.
Make a shopping list and stick to it. Remember that you’ll likely have leftovers, so you may not need to buy as much as usual for your meals after the event.
Gather containers so you can offer leftovers to your guests. Alternatively, consider asking them to bring their own.
Set up waste stations. Make sure your guests can easily put their uneaten food in a compost bin and provide a recycling bin, too. Remember Ridwell can take multi-layer plastic packaging!
Enjoy your leftovers. Yay, leftovers are delicious!
Freeze the extras. If you have more than you’ll consume in a few days, freeze what you can for later.
Donate packaged food to your local food bank. It’s normal to over-prepare for a gathering by stocking up on packaged finger foods. If you don’t have space to keep them or know you won’t eat them, food banks are a convenient option.
Hosting a gathering? See our full guide >
Dealing with packaging waste
While food waste, returned gifts, wrapping paper, greeting cards, and decorations cause the bulk of extra waste this season, plastic packaging of multiple types–mailing envelopes, shipping pillows, bubble wrap, Styrofoam—is another landfill challenge big enough to plan for.
The 2023 holiday season is predicted to see shoppers in the US spend $17B online, almost a 5% increase over last year. Whether you shop online or in stores, or you’re expecting a gift that will come protected by Styrofoam, you’re almost certain to deal with extra plastic waste this time of year.
Plus, most people accumulate more snack packaging than usual between Halloween and the new year—things like candy wrappers and bags that hold baking supplies.
Here’s what to remember about plastic packaging waste:
Soft plastic like shipping envelopes, bubble wrap, and plastic pillows aren’t recyclable curbside because they get caught in machinery designed for hard plastics.
Multi-layer plastic like candy wrappers, bags of oats, chip bags, and pet food bags aren’t recyclable curbside because they’re made of different materials that are very well stuck together.
Styrofoam isn’t recyclable curbside because it breaks into tiny pieces that are difficult to separate from other materials that get recycled separately.
Ridwell members keep plastic film, multi-layer plastic, and Styrofoam out of the landfill. These categories include everything mentioned above.
Enjoy the season
Now that you have some tips to manage the most wasteful time of year, focus on the best part of the holiday season: enjoying it!
Wasting less is why Ridwell exists, but we don’t expect perfection. Small steps make a big difference. Choosing our wrapping paper a little differently or deciding to use our real glasses at a party is very worthwhile, even if our aim isn’t a zero-waste season. Small decisions add up!
