Four tips on holiday recycling, reusing, repurposing from American Legend

The holidays are full of laughter, love, family, friends and when it’s all said and done…lots of items that potentially end up in our landfills! 

The holidays bring in more trash than any other time of the year and it’s up to us to do our best to reduce that amount each year. According to Stanford University, Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than any other time of year. “The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week!”

Here are some little ways you can help reduce the amount of waste from this holiday season! 

1. Save what you can: There are certain things that everyone uses each Christmas for presents that don't need to be thrown out. This includes ribbons, bows and even boxes! Boxes are easy to break down and can be stored in a Christmas bin in the attic, basement or under the stairs. With ribbon and bows, you can easily reuse them each year and no one will know the difference! Other ideas: Use reusable decorative tins or baskets to “wrap” gifts. 

2. Recycle, recycle, recycle: If a box gets damaged and is not re-usable, place it in the recycling bin instead of the trash. And choose wrapping paper that can be recycled. That means avoiding paper with glitter, metal or velvet flocking. Other than that, recycle everything you can! 

3. Choose environmentally smart gifts: Pick gifts that don’t end up in either the trash or recycle bin such as homemade pastries, bread or jams, a plant or flowers. Ones that don't create any waste at all: digital concert or movie tickets, dinner at a restaurant or an IOU to help with chores. 

4. Repurpose: Whenever you receive something new to replace something you may already have (like a new phone or a computer), look in to selling or donating it before immediately sending it to the landfill. Here’s how to wipe it clear before donating or selling it.

According to Stanford, “if every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.”

Trash can pile up fast this time of year and while we all love everything the holiday season brings, trash is one thing that we can cut down on! American Legend encourages you to find simple ways to reduce, recycle, reuse and repurpose this holiday season. It’s not only an environmentally sound decision, it will also feel good to know we are all doing our best to take care of the planet!