Eco-friendly ways to wrap up the holiday season
Gifts wrapped in household waste products. Specifically, newspaper pages, comic pages, and maps are possible alternatives to wrapping paper, courtesy of the.honoluluadvertiser.com
In a frenzied scramble on Christmas morning, glittering bows, bags, boxes, and Scotch tape fly into the air without a second thought. Family and friends gather and exchange gifts, often oblivious to the towering mountain of crumpled decorations behind them. Yet, with a bit of creativity, people can exchange excessive disposability for sustainability. Consumers can practice affordable alternative wrapping techniques to minimize exigent environmental damage this holiday season.
Along every street corner and avenue, retailers flash advertisements enticing customers to purchase products and clothes. Companies coax consumers into buying gifts, which a slew of tissue paper, bows, and ribbons accompany. Most of these packaging materials, including wrapping paper, are coated in plastic or wax, making these items difficult to recycle. As a result, the amount of trash people produce grows exponentially during the holiday season.
According to bgm.stanford.edu, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day, household waste increases by more than 25 percent. In addition, assuming 15 trees fall per ton of wrapping paper, the wood industry expends 30 million trees merely to wrap gifts, according to treehugger.com. To avoid producing unnecessary trash, people can wrap gifts in a more sustainable fashion by reusing materials most households already own.
By using the Furoshiki Fabric Gift Wrap technique, people may wrap gifts elegantly while minimizing waste. Furoshiki wraps are available in a variety of colors and patterns. Simply flatten the cloth, or small blanket, on a hard surface and follow instructions to properly fold around the gift. This technique originated in Japan as a method to swaddle and carry various items.
Clay flower pots also make a whimsical and reusable alternative for a gift box or wrapping paper. Gift givers can tie a ribbon to seal the pot. Even more, this method also provides the receiver with an incentive to brighten her home with a plant, according to inhabitat.com.
Additionally, old maps, dated newspapers, children’s art, used calendars, and other relatively large pieces of paper make trendy wrapping material. If smaller pieces of paper are available, tape or glue them together and create an up-cycled mosaic design. With tears, discolorations, and other blemishes in the paper, the charm and zest will personalize the gift underneath. Even more, try tying a bow with biodegradable twine.
One of the simplest gift wrapping alternatives is reusable fabric gift bags, which eliminate the need for tape, scissors, paper, and careful folding. These colorful drawstring pouches last for decades, which will prevent customers from having to buy new supplies every year. Customers can purchase pre-made reusable gift bags from companies like Living Ethos and Wrap Sacks. Furthermore, they are easy to DIY as a festive holiday activity.
In addition, over the past few years, many companies have begun to offer recycled wrapping paper. Brands like FishLips, Green Field Paper offer rolls of paper that look and feel the same as less sustainable, traditional wrapping paper, according to inhabitat.com. This option is ideal for those who would like to reduce their environmental impact, but still want to participate in this traditional holiday festivity.
Families can make new items out of torn and tossed wrapping paper, the landfill-bound casualties of the gift giving season. For instance, after carefully collecting and flattening the wrapping paper, families can re-purpose by cutting the paper into pieces to use for art collages throughout the year. Alternatively, people can fill three white garbage bags with the paper scraps to form spheres, stack them using hot glue, and decorate the face and body, turning it into a homemade snowman decoration. Also, families can cut squares, tape both sides together to eliminate white space, fold, and cut into snowflakes or oragami. If families hold onto these crafts and store them with other holiday embellishments during non-winter months, they may begin to evolve traditions of decorating sustainably.
Regardless of how people celebrate the season, gift giving is integral to the spirit of generosity, thanksgiving, and humility. As gift giving reigns on, consider practicing these wrapping techniques and marry two important factors in deciding how to wrap gifts: presentation and minimized environmental footprint.
-Christina Weiler, Arts and Entertainment Editor
