By Robert Helms
Some people think that having an “eco-holiday” is synonymous with sacrifice. However, the truth is that you can save the planet and still enjoy the festive season. The key is to make eco-friendly holidays a lifestyle rather than an event. So, if you want to celebrate an eco-friendly holiday this year, here are some strategies that can help.
How to Have an Eco-friendly Holiday
The term “sustainable holiday” is not just a buzzword – it is a necessity. It means that you can be happy and have a wonderful time without harming the environment.
There are plenty of ways to have an eco-friendly, sustainable holiday. You don’t have to give up your favorite traditions, but you can use them in a more environmentally conscious way.
Below are 11 ways you can do your part in saving the planet during the holiday season:
Buy local items
Buying local items as a holiday gift or for any occasion is an excellent opportunity to support locally owned businesses. It is also a perfect way to help the environment.
There are many reasons to buy local for the holidays. Supporting local businesses helps the economy and gives you more options than just going into a chain store. Plus, buying items made in your community means they don’t have to travel as far. This could mean fewer carbon emissions and pollution than something made overseas.
Given these reasons, buying local items is one of the simplest and easiest ways you can be a bit more eco-friendly this holiday season.
Give a sustainable gift
Giving a gift is an integral part of the holiday season. But one of the worst parts about it is that it often leads to mountains of waste. The good news is that many eco-friendly gift options allow you to give something meaningful without creating more trash.
When considering an eco-friendly holiday gift, the first thing to do is find out what types of gifts your friends or family members like. The best way to do this is by asking them directly or looking at their social media posts for clues about what they might want.
Once you know the type to go for, you need to look for a sustainable alternative. For example, if you’re getting clothes, look for a sustainable clothes manufacturer or designer.
Get creative with your gift wrapping
There are many eco-friendly, sustainable materials that you can use for wrapping presents.
One way to wrap a present is with a reusable gift bag or box. Traditionally, these were made from paper or cloth. These days, however, there are many ways to wrap a present using canvas and recycled plastic bags. Even some companies make biodegradable paper bags that dissolve after a few weeks.
Do your research until you find the gift wrapping option that you like the best and use that.
Get a real tree
Using real trees as holiday decorations is a sustainable option for eco-friendly holidays. Unlike artificial trees, these trees are biodegradable, which means they will turn into soil or compost that you can use to grow new plants.
A real Christmas tree also cuts down on the amount of waste created during the holiday season. Artificial trees are often put in landfills after the holidays are over. Some places rent out real trees that you can return, but these services might be harder to find.
Use LED lights
LED lights offer many benefits over standard incandescent light bulbs. LED lights for Christmas are more sustainable. That’s because they use less energy, emit less heat, have a longer lifespan, and are environmentally friendly.
They do not produce the same heat, making them more eco-friendly. LED lights also last up to 100 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Their long-lasting quality means that you will need fewer replacement bulbs over the years.
LEDs are also better for the environment because they do not release mercury into the air as traditional bulbs do.
Craft your own decorations
It is possible to have a sustainable holiday without sacrificing fun or creativity. You can do so by making your décor yourself. There are many benefits of crafting homemade Christmas decorations. Here are a few:
- It provides you with a sense of accomplishment and pride in your work.
- It saves money since you don’t have to buy new decorations every year.
- You can recycle old materials that may otherwise end up in a landfill.
Cook organic and local food
Organic and local food is more sustainable because it does not require much time, energy, and money to grow.
For starters, growing organic food takes less energy than cultivating conventional crops. Organic farmers typically use human power to plow the soil and harvest the crop, which requires less fuel than a tractor-powered plow. Because organic farmers don’t use pesticides or chemical fertilizers, they don’t need to rely on fossil fuels for their equipment. This means that they save money on fuel costs each harvest season.
Many also believe that growing organic food is better for the environment. That’s because it doesn’t contaminate groundwater with chemical runoff. It also doesn’t release harmful greenhouse gases into the air as conventionally-grown crops do.
Given these reasons, you should consider cooking organic and local food for the holidays.
Reduce holiday waste
According to Planet Maids House Cleaning NYC, reducing holiday waste can help you transform your celebrations into a more sustainable affair.
One way to reduce holiday waste would be to buy pre-wrapped or pre-packaged gifts that come in a box or bag rather than wrapping them yourself. Pre-wrapped gifts will help you save time, money, and energy. It also allows you to reduce waste from paper and tape used for wrapping.
Use real plates and silverware
Instead of using disposable plates and cutleries, use real plates and silverware. Not only does this help you reduce waste, but you can also reuse these real dishes and cutlery after wash.
Travel responsibly
When travelling for the holidays, consider renting eco-friendly accommodation.
For one, doing so can help you save money. Second, you can have access to home conveniences like laundry and kitchen.
This means that you can have a home away from home without damaging the environment.
Visit local and lesser-known destinations
Eco-friendly travel is the practice of travelling that does not harm the environment or spoil it in any way.
There are also various ways to reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions when travelling. Some of these methods include:
- Using public transport
- Riding a bike instead of driving
- Limiting the number of flights taken
- Taking local tourist attraction tours
Another excellent idea is to visit local and lesser-known destinations. Popular tourist spots, especially nature-based ones, get a lot of foot traffic. And tourist traffic that can damage the environment.
By avoiding these popular destinations, you avoid the crowd, spend less, and don’t damage the destination that you went to.
How to Stay Eco-Friendly After the Holiday
The post-holiday season is an excellent time to start living more sustainably. You can find ways to reduce your environmental footprint with some of the tips listed below, so try them out.
Reorganize and recycle wrapping
One of the keys to a sustainable holiday is to reduce the amount of waste you produce. You can reduce waste by re-gifting unwanted gifts, shopping for eco-friendly presents, and recycling your wrapping paper.
When it comes to recycling wrapping paper, there are three ways to do so:
- Use it again as wrapping paper
- Use it as a material for something else (such as mosaics or collages)
- Throw it into the compost pile
Use up your leftovers
There are many reasons people should eat the leftovers from their holiday meals and turn them into something else. There are many ways to reuse food leftovers and make them taste better. For example, you can make soup with all the veggies leftover from your holidays.
Dispose properly
If you are organizing a green holiday, here are some things that you can do to dispose of your waste correctly.
One thing that you can do would be to separate your rubbish. Rinse all the recyclable items and put them in their appropriate bins. Put biodegradable items into compostable bags or containers. If you don’t have any, purchase some from your local supermarket.
Another way you can dispose of holiday waste properly is by sorting through them. Remove anything that can be salvaged or eaten by animals before disposing of it in the correct bin.
Grab big bags
For an environmentally-friendly holiday, you can use large bags to store your holiday goods.
Large bags are not only eco-friendly, but they are also cheaper than plastic storage solutions. And they are better for the environment because you can reuse them for other purposes after your holiday.
Thus, it would be best to consider storing your holiday goods after the celebration in these containers.
Clean spills on furniture and rugs
Make sure to clean spills on furniture and rugs in an eco-friendly way.
You can adequately clean your furniture and rugs using eco-friendly cleaning solutions. Luckily, such cleaning products are now readily available in the market nowadays.
Some people even opt to use their household items such as baking soda and vinegar to clean these spills. Both options are excellent and sustainable ways to clean them.
Sustainably celebrating the holidays is a challenge. It’s an even more significant challenge to maintain that habit after the holidays. Hopefully, the tips above should help you achieve that goal and start your new year off to an eco-friendly start.
About Robert Helms
Robert is a freelance writer based in a NYC. When not writing for clients, he spends most of his time on DIY projects that can make his 800 sqft. apartment a home.
This piece was prepared online by Panuruji Kenta, Publisher, SEVENSEAS Media