How to Be Eco-Friendly During the Holidays

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How to Be Eco-Friendly During the Holidays

The holidays are a truly magical time of year. We get to reconnect with family and friends. We can relax, recharge, celebrate with each other and give gifts. While this is wonderful, it also means a lot of extra waste is generated between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

To make a difference, we need to know how to be more environmentally friendly. There are ways to be more eco-friendly without losing the holiday cheer. With a few changes, you can turn regular holidays into eco-holidays. Have a look at some of these sustainability tips on how to be more eco-friendly.

20 Ways to be More Eco-Friendly this Holiday

With these green tips, you can have the holiday of your dreams and be environmentally friendly at the same time. The first step is to have an eco-friendly mindset. Keep the idea of less waste in your mind and think about how to be sustainable while enjoying festive fun. There are many ways to be more eco-friendly on your holiday.

How to Be More Eco-Friendly When You're Shopping and Giving Gifts

A lot of the holiday waste comes from gift-giving, but there are ways to be more eco-friendly. If you shop for gifts, keep these eco-friendly tips in mind:

1. Keep it Local

When shopping, think about how you can support your local community. Take a look at local stores that offer green gifts and handmade options. You'll find many more unique and meaningful gifts and support your local economy at the same time.

2. Think About Your Gifts

Consider how you can give your loved ones less stuff and still give them presents from the heart. Instead of giving physical gifts, try to give them experiences. What about a day at the spa? A restaurant experience may be a good fit. Use your imagination and give your loved ones memories instead of things.

You can also try making gifts for people you care about instead of buying them. Handmade gifts are that much more special because the receiver knows you put time and effort into making them. Handmade toiletries are easy to make and you can use sustainable ingredients.

If you don't have time to make gifts, look at digital options like a subscription. People may not be able to touch these things, but they are still unique, thoughtful gifts.

3. Watch the Wrapping Paper

Wrapping paper often needs to be recycled after Christmas. Instead, it ends up in landfills and adds to worldwide waste. You don't have to wrap presents at all, but if you want to, you can do it the eco-friendly way. Use your imagination and come up with some fun ways to wrap gifts using recyclable material. Here are some wrapping paper sustainability tips:

4. Focus on Stocking Fillers

Sometimes we buy a lot of cheap, plastic goodies to fill Christmas stockings. This adds to our carbon footprint, and most of those gifts get thrown away in the new year. Think about filling stockings with yummy, locally-made goodies instead. You can also make stocking fillers yourself for a personal touch.

How to Be More Eco-Friendly When You're Decorating

The holidays wouldn't be the same without festive decorations. Decorating is part of the fun and builds excitement. Check out these eco-friendly tips for keeping your decorating green and sustainable:

5. Get a Real Tree

Real trees are more sustainable options than artificial ones as they're biodegradable. This means that when you're done with your tree, it can be used in the soil as compost to grow more trees for years. Artificial trees are made of plastic, which isn't biodegradable. Unless you recycle them properly, they will be thrown in a landfill.

Be careful when you shop for your next tree. Sometimes growers use harmful pesticides and colorants on festive trees, so check that you buy from an eco-friendly operation. These eco-friendly farms will also plant more trees than they sell, which leads to healthier and more sustainable forests.

Living trees are another option for a real tree. You purchase them in pots or grow bags and keep them alive like a houseplant. After the holidays, you can replant it in your yard.

You can also think about not having a tree — at least not in the traditional sense. Think about fun ways you could decorate a house plant or even use copper wire to craft your own tree. One of the keys to an eco-friendly holiday is to get creative. Use your imagination and see how many different tree alternatives you can come up with.

6. Stick to LED Lights

LED lights use at least 75% less energy than traditional lights. LED lights leave less carbon footprint, as they don't get as hot. They last much longer than traditional light bulbs, which means less waste. You don't have to replace them regularly, and there's no glass, so they don't break as often.

If you want to reduce your carbon footprint, turn your lights off when you're not using them. Set an automatic lighting timer and save even more when you can.

7. Make Your Own Decorations

Now you have another chance to use your imagination. Making your decorations lets you recycle things you already have at home. Get the family involved and see how many decoration ideas everyone can come up with. Give your home a rustic theme this year and see how many pinecones, branches, leaves and berries you can use.

Getting crafty also makes your decorations more meaningful. Look after them carefully, and you can get joy out of them for years to come.

How to Be More Eco-Friendly When You're Hosting Guests

For many people, a home-cooked meal is a big part of the holidays. Cooking for people can be a challenge, but there are ways to keep sustainability in mind. Take a look at some of these tips for your festive feast:

8. Avoid Disposables Where You Can

The basic rule is to keep plastic to a minimum. Use real dishes and cutlery. If you don't have enough, reach out to your loved ones and tell them you're having an eco-holiday. Ask them if you can borrow some essentials to enjoy your meal. If you need to use some disposable containers, use aluminum. You can recycle aluminum when you're done, unlike plastic.

9. Think Organic and Local

Find out what's available in your area before planning your menu. Ask sustainable farmers about seasonal options. When you stick to local produce, you reduce transport and carbon emissions. You also support your local community and feed your guests a healthy meal. Save the leftovers, if there are any. You can use them for compost.

10. Send Online Invitations and Cards

Avoid using unnecessary paper. If you're having people over, send them a digital invitation. Instead of mailing cards to relatives overseas, send them digital versions. The less paper we use, the better for the environment.

11. Talk to Guests

One of the best ways to be eco-friendly is to spread the word. Try and get your guests involved so they can contribute too. If you speak up, your guests will know what you're trying to do. Then they can also be more mindful of the type of food and gifts they bring. We can make a bigger difference if we're eco-friendly together.

How to Be More Eco-Friendly When You're Traveling

If you're going on vacation, you can take your sustainability along. Here are a few tips and tricks to stay eco-friendly on your travels:

12. Check Your Accommodation

When you book a holiday, check how eco-friendly the accommodation is. You can reduce your carbon footprint if you have access to a kitchen and laundry area. You can also take your own environmentally friendly cleaning products and limit the use of harsh detergents.

13. Go Local

Dive a little deeper into your holiday destination. Even if you're away from home, you can still support locals. Look past the popular tourist locations and see what hidden gems you can find while away. Find out more about local produce while you're there so you can continue your eco-friendly shopping habits.

14. Change Your Transport

While it might take time to get used to, use local transport options wherever possible. Use your holiday to get some exercise and find out where you can walk and cycle. You'll limit your carbon emissions and take in the sights at the same time.

How to Stay Eco-Friendly After the Holidays

As much as we would love the holidays to last forever, they have to end sometime. You can continue your eco-friendly habits even after the holidays are over. There are still ways to be more sustainable as the holidays close. Have a look at some of these eco-friendly post-holiday tips:

15. Donate or Sell

At some stage, someone always gives us a gift we don't really like. Just because it's not your style doesn't mean someone else wouldn't love it. Donate or sell presents you don't think you'll use and make someone else's year.

16. Pack Decorations Away

You don't need to throw decorations away if you can use them next year. Pack them carefully into boxes and store them. By the next holiday, you will have forgotten about some of the decorations you made. Opening your stored decorations will be a pleasant surprise and bring back happy memories.

17. Recycle Wrappings

The whole point of an eco-friendly holiday is to produce as little waste as possible. Instead of simply throwing wrapping paper away, organize it into piles. You can reuse wrapping paper in a few different ways:

18. Recycle Your Tree

Many towns have tree recycling projects for the end of the holidays. Find out what's available where you live or at a nearby recycling center. You can also recycle your tree yourself. Use it for firewood, composting or art projects. You can even feed some animals, as long as it's safe for them.

19. Save Your Leftovers

There are always leftovers at the end of a big, festive meal. Instead of throwing them away, invite guests to take some home. You can also freeze the remainder of your food and use it in later meal preparation. You can also use unwanted food for composting in your own setting or a professional facility.

20. Recycle Your Used Phone or Tablet

New cell phones and tablets are common gifts over the festive season. If you have got a new phone or tablet for Christmas, think about what you will do with the used one. You could drop your used phone in an ecoATM kiosk and get cash back.

It's worthwhile to recycle your phone or tablet. These devices can contain dangerous elements and should not be left in landfills. Recycling these devices is the right thing to do. It's the perfect end to your eco-friendly holiday.

Earn Extra Cash This Holiday Season With ecoATM

If each of us takes responsibility for a sustainable holiday, we can enjoy many more. 

Earn Extra Cash This Holiday Season With ecoATM

If each of us takes responsibility for a sustainable holiday, we can enjoy many more. Imagine doing the right thing and getting extra cash just before Christmas. You'll have extra money to spend and know you've taken the first steps to creating your perfect eco-friendly holiday.

All you have to do is prepare your phone. Then, find one of our conveniently located ecoATM kiosks and deposit it. The kiosk will pay you the cash value of your phone, if applicable, in under 10 minutes. Even if your phone is broken and has no cash value, it's still worth recycling to keep dangerous elements out of landfills.

Are you ready to make some holiday cash? You can find an ecoATM kiosk today and get your eco-holiday started.