Don’t let the Holidays go to Waste...
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle the Holiday Season!
No-Waste Gi Giving
e Here are a few ideas on how to have a wonderful, gi-giving holiday season and still
be earth friendly.
e Not sure what to get someone? How about a gi certicate? at way, you know the
gi will be kept.
e Make gis. Everyone appreciates a home-cooked meal or baked goodies.
e Consider nonmaterial gis. Tickets to a sporting event, movie, play, or concert are a
real treat! Or make a charitable donation in someone’s name.
e When you go shopping, bring your own reusable bags.
e ink durable! Consider how long an item will last before you make a purchase. Oen,
a cheaper item will wear out long before its more durable equivalent.
e Look for items made with recycled content.
Waste Reduction with Wrapping Packaging, Greeting Cards
e Creative wrapping paper substitutes include used blueprint paper, the Sunday comics,
or even the sports section for a sports enthusiast. Design your own wrapping paper using
paper shopping bags: decorate them with paints, crayons, or markers.
e If you send holiday cards, buy recycled-content cards and envelopes. Or make your
own cards out of last year’s cards and the wrapping paper you saved.
e Make gi tags from last year’s holiday cards.
e Shipping a gi? Reuse the foam peanuts from another package, or use unbuttered
popcorn for packing.
No-Waste Gi-Wrapping
e Wrap the gi in a drawstring bang and use an inexpensive luggage tag for the gi tag.
e Use a jewelry box for some ea market “jewels”.
e For a person who is handy, wrap a gi in a tool box.
e Any kitchen gi can be wrapped in a colorful dish towel. Kitchen utensils can pop out
of an oven mitt.
e Place home-baked cookies in a reusable tin box, a kitchen container, or a decorated
oatmeal box.
e For a reader, wrap a book in a reusable canvas shopping sack.
e Wrap tools for a gardener in the pocket of an apron,
planter, or bucket.
e Hang earrings, bracelets, or necklaces right on the
Christmas tree, or put them inside or around an open
ornament.
e Search the ea market, garage sales, and thri stores
for interesting old boxes that can be used as decorative
packages.
e Search the attic for old family photos and mementos
and give them to your favorite relative wrapped in your
child’s artwork.
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