Keene State College

Sustainability

While the winter holiday season brings good cheer to many people, it also brings a lot more solid waste to the landfill, impacts to our environment, additional consumption of natural resources, and additional debt to the average American family. Regardless of which holiday you celebrate, here are some environmentally-smart tips and web site links for a less wasteful - and perhaps less stressful - holiday this year.

• Wrapping paper is often used once and thrown away.
  1. Try using colorful pages torn from magazines to wrap small gifts, and old maps or the Sunday comics for larger boxes.
  2. Avoid using paper entirely by using reusable decorative tins, baskets or boxes.
  3. If you do buy wrapping papers, look for ones made of recycled paper.
  4. Reusable cloth ribbons can be used in place of plastic bows.
  5. Finally, unwrap gifts carefully and save wrappings for reuse next year.

• Seasonal LED's (light emitting diodes)

Now for the first time seasonal LED strings are available for sale through many retailers. These energy-efficient light strings are superior to standard incandescent light strings in that they:

1. use up to 95% less energy.
2. last up to 7 times longer.
3. are more durable, with no filaments or glass bulbs to break.
4. produce very little heat, reducing the risk of fire.
   
5. The energy cost of operating one of these strings is a fraction of the cost of conventional holiday lights.



• Instead of material gifts, consider gifts of your time or expertise. For example, offer to do chores, babysitting, snow shoveling, etc. Or, offer to teach someone your expertise: how to bake, knit, repair things, etc.
  
  
• If you buy gifts, look for durable and re-usable items and resist the latest "fad" at the shopping mall. Think of how many pet rocks, mood rings, and cabbage patch dolls ended up in the landfill!
  
  
• Look for gifts with an environmental message: a nature book, a refillable thermos bottle, a canvas tote bag, a battery recharger or items made from recycled materials. Choose solar powered instead of battery powered products. Or better yet, ones that require no power at all.

• Other environmentally-smart gifts include homemade ones: homebaked cookies, bread or jams, a plant or tree.
• Gifts that don't create any waste: concert or movie tickets, dinner at a restaurant, or an IOU to help shovel snow or repair a leaky faucet.
• Gifts that get "used up": candles, soap, or seeds for next year's garden.
• If you go out shopping, bring your own tote bags and avoid coming home with an armload of plastic bags holding just one item.
• You may be receiving piles of mail order catalogs at this time of year. Call the company's 800 number and ask that you be removed from their mailing list. Or, opt out of unwanted catalogs, now or after the Holidays at Catalog Choice.
  or Pre Quo. These easy to use on line services gives you a secure way to opt out from one location. Fortunately, magazines and catalogs can be recycled at local recycling centers.

• If you send holiday cards, look for ones made of recycled paper or recycled cards (see the link to St. Judes' Ranch for Children, below). Avoid cards with glossy, shiny or gold foil coatings since these cannot be recycled. Save the cards that you get in the mail, cut off the front pictures, and reuse as "postcards" next year. This saves on postage too. Or, send electronic cards or make a phone call instead! R.O.C.K.S. will collect used holiday greeting cards and use them for projects. Send to MS 2502.
• For tree trimmings, try edible or compostable items like popcorn or cranberries on a string, gingerbread cookies or items made from "found" objects around your home. New LED lights use much less energy, check out the Holiday Lighting web site listed below.
• If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields.

Some web sites to LEARN MORE... about reducing waste and the environmental impacts of the holiday season.

With careful thought, it is possible to reduce waste, conserve resources and promote environmental protection during this busy season.

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more!" - "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss

Thanks go to members of CURC, the College and University Recycling Council, for much of this web page content.