By Steve Davies,
Healthy Planet Columnist
I have to say, in some ways, this has been a tough article to write on a topic near and dear to my heart for so many years. Having just turned the ripe old age of 64 last month, I have to admit I’m finally beginning to wonder, what’s going to eventually happen to all the stuff I’ve accumulated over the years. I think this is the first year where I’ve begun to realize, I don’t really need much, if anything, for Christmas.
I think if anything, the best gift for me is to give away what I have, be it to family, friends or even strangers. Now granted, I’m not going to just give away anything and everything. What I’m planning to do is give away what others might need. Things that I no longer need such as old tools, furniture and even some kitchenware. Sort of my way of saying Merry Christmas to those in need.
Just today in fact, I started going through my clothes to see what I no longer wear. Now while I had to retire from my last full-time job due to covid back in 2020, I’m now working multiple part-time jobs so work clothes are still a must. In fact, as a single parent of a child with special abilities, work is something I will probably never stop doing.
Now for my family and friends, I will still enjoy the opportunity to go shopping, it’s just that I’ll definitely be a little eco-friendlier. First off, no gift cards. Those are not recyclable. I’ll look for items that are a bit more personal. Just sitting here in fact, I think I now know what to get each of my nieces and nephews.
For my own kids, I think that won’t be a problem and for my brother and sister’s families, I’ve always made them banana bread and cookies. As far as my mom goes, I think I have an idea or two. To wrap them all up of course, I’ll go back to using paper grocery bags decorated in various ways with no ribbons or bows.
Then to tie all the gifts, we’ll have a real tree with all of our family ornaments and I’m thinking about making an old family tradition that my grandma made, zwieback. As far as outside the house, we’ll just have our family Christmas lights. In the end of course, we’ll recycle as much as we can of what we have left over and if there’s anything we don’t want or need, we’ll go back to where we started and give them away to those in need. Along with donating some food for others. After all, isn’t that what Christmas is all about?
For questions about recycling email me at thprecycler@yahoo.com