By Steve Davies, Healthy Planet Columnist
So, on a day which feels closer to summer than winter, I’m reminded that I am still someone who truly enjoys those snowy Christmas days and the gift of giving. That said, I also know it’s a time where many of us produce so much waste. One needs to look no further than all of the trash cans in our neighborhoods the day after.
Now there are some gifts that we can give these days that will help prevent some of that waste. One of the earliest ones that I remember was the gift my siblings and I received from our grandparents. What they would do was meet with each of us individually and let us ask any questions about them that we wanted to. While I’m sure I didn’t appreciate it back then, looking back at it now, I realize how lucky we were.
Another way where I’ve looked to improve on this is by something that I’ve done since my kids were little and that is through making donations in their names to the groups of their choice. When I first started this, I started by asking them what two they would like me to donate too and even though they haven’t always changed, I still enjoy asking them. What has also happened over the years is that I’ve found myself making more and more donations each year.
Now for those who choose to give other types of gifts, something I like to do is create my own wrapping paper using things like paper grocery store bags, you simply turn them inside out and let the artist inside of you regale, be it through painting, drawing or even using stamps and ink to decorate them. Another thing that is good is to stay away from most store-bought ribbons and bows. You can simply create your own bows using those same paper bags or even tissue paper.
In addition to all this, something I used to do over the years for my kids was to buy some of their gifts at second-hand stores in the area such as Goodwill or Savers. You would be surprised by how many items there are actually new or little used and along that same line, there is also the option of re-gifting. So, with all that, here’s hoping that maybe with everyone’s help, we can try to make this Christmas a little less-trashiest day of the year. So with that, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!
For questions or comments about recycling please email me at thprecycler@yahoo.comthprecycler@yahoo.com