Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap
Eco-Friendly Gift Wrap
Haven’t wrapped those presents for the tree yet? Here’s some ideas that will help eliminate the tons of waste wrapping paper created over the holidays.
According to Future Present:
“Every year in the UK we use more than 8,000 tonnes of wrapping paper for our Christmas presents, equivalent to 50,000 trees. And sticky tape, being non-biodegradable, prevents us from reusing those mountains of wrapping paper.”
Our first choice for gift wrap at any time of the year, has always been the reusable “gift” bag. We use a clip or reusable tissue paper, to keep prying eyes out.
A cookie tin or other metal can, will also provide years of use. We have one particular tin, that gets pasted back and forth every year with homemade peanut brittle. Maybe it’s not a surprise, but it’s always a joy to receive.
Another great choice is the standard “shoebox”. While cardboard is always placed in the recycle box, we keep a few shoeboxes on hand at all times.
Still feel the urge to “wrap” that present? Try newspaper. Yes, you will get dirty hands from the ink, but it washes off easy enough. If the present is for a kid – big or small, the color comics makes great gift wrap. And using string or elastics rather than tape, ensures the wrapping paper will make it back to the blue box at the end of the big day.
Handy with a needle and tread, you can make your own cloth gift bags. In a hurry and don’t have the time to make a gift bag for a smaller sized present, try a (festive colored) sock.
If you stop and think for a minute, it’s not that hard to eliminate the traditional paper gift wrap, saving thousands of trees in the process.
Happy holidays….
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Filed under: Go Green
