Before you go all lazy on me and decide it is just easier to throw it all away and forget about it, sit back and think about all of the gifts, the boxes they came in, the wrapping paper that covered them, the holiday cards, the letters, the Christmas Trees, the candy wrappers, the wine bottles, the extra food, etc.
According to Use Less Stuff (ULS), Americans throw away 25 percent more trash during the holidays than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about one million extra tons per week. Much of the 28 billion pounds of edible food thrown away each year is wasted during the holiday season. It breaks my heart to think of all the wasted food, when there are families that have none.
Most people make way too much food and on top of that, guests usually bring more food, so your house is just one big buffet. And let’s be honest most of the food is not consumed and ends up going to waste. How about this year, you try and not let it all get tossed in the garbage.
- If turkey was your food of choice this year, making a broth and transforming it into a nice soup is one of the best way to use all that you can from the bird to avoid waste. If there are some bits and pieces left from the bird that are edible- add it to your soup or broth.
- Have too much turkey and there is not way you will be able to eat that many sandwiches over the next couple of days? Freeze it, and save it for later.
- Do you have mounds of mashed potatoes, carrots and random veggies left and are scratching your head wondering what to do? Make a nice creamy soup. Add water or nut milk, spices and voila! I know I am repeating myself, but the freezer really is your friend.
- I am sure you have holiday treats covering every surface and, if you are like me, don’t want it to go to waste, but at the same time is not interested in gaining those extra pounds. Freeze, freeze, freeze it all!
- If there really is too much food that you will never eat, give it away to someone that will.
- The last alternative is to compost as much as you can to divert all that waste from a landfill. At least this way the waste won’t just be sitting somewhere, only to create methane gas polluting the atmosphere.
I am sure you have envelopes, wrapping paper, boxes, gift bags etc. just sitting around. The first option is to try and find another use for them, then compost what you can, and finally recycle.
- Keep the gift bags and reuse them next year or even for another occasions a gift might be given. So, someone gets a Santa gift bag for their birthday. It will be a nice conversation starter.
- Reuse envelopes that have not been written on for other occasions.
- Use random pieces of paper, tin cans or wine corks for future crafts for the kids or even for some fun adult projects. After the crafts are ready to be trashed, recycle it all instead.
- Boxes can make for great forts for the kids. Add some blankets and let the fun begin.
- There are zillions of uses for glass jars or even plastic containers; I personally reuse all my glass jars for food storage instead of buying glassware. On a side note, when it comes to plastic, just remember it is not a good idea to reheat food in them because chemicals can be leached out into the food while heated. It is better just to use them for storage.
- Collect all your wine corks and ship them off to ReCork or Yemme & Hart to either be transformed into a nice floor or simply recycled.
- If you received a gift you know will end up in a closet indefinitely or worst, sit in a landfill, consider regifting it to someone that you know would enjoy it. I know some people look down on regifting, but if you are not going to use it, I am sure there is someone that will.
- Don’t forget about the tree in the living room. Most cities offer a recycling program for Christmas trees, and please seriously considering taking part. Or compost it.
- Sign-up for Terracycle and send them all your candy and chocolate wrappers, and chip bags to be upcycled into purses, bags, pencil cases, lunch bags etc,
There are so many creative and fun ways to limit the amount of waste that is created over the holidays and really all year long. Try and think outside of the wine bottle and let your creative juices flow.
food, garbage, holidays, landfill, trash, waste
I am the Good Girl Gone Green. Seeing garbage cans overflowing with recyclables breaks my heart.
I came here for this post. Believe it or not when I saw the trash after xmas I thought of you and I felt a bit embarrassed. Thanks for this.
Lol….I remind you of trash!
not of trash roflol of responsibility and awareness. Happy New Year.
Happy new year! If I did remind uou of trash you wouldn’t be the first!
Love this post! I took home a bunch of stuff from my in laws so I could recycle it. They don’t recycle and it really gets to me, especially during the holidays. They think I’m crazy of course. =) And there is never any wasted food here, we have 4 dogs hahah.
Thanks,Camille! Dogs are a good way to divert waste from the landfill!
My husband took our holiday trash to the dump today and it was overwhelming how much trash everyone had. We did tons of recycling, but there was still more trash than usual.
I arranged my menu plan to use up leftovers this week, you can check it out here: http://randomrecycling.blogspot.com/2011/12/meal-plan-dec-26.html
Merry Christmas!
~Emily
Thanks,Emily! I will check it out!
What a great post! This year was difficult for me and my eco-friendly ways as I am still having to rely on others to do so much. I have rubbed off on friends and family in many ways, but not all and I am trying to minimize the waste as best I can… I should share this.
Thanks Brenna!!!! Means lots coming form you, and yes you should share it.
Awesome ideas! I do agree that we end up with more trash around the holidays. However, we did reuse a big store bag for a trash bag instead of getting a second one. I will take this small victory!
Thanks Katie!! That was such a great idea!
I agree with everything in this post! In our house Thursday is soup day..I put all the leftovers from mon tues and wed in a big pot and simmer and serve..unbelievabley good and no waste I am a new follower..pls follow back if you can.
Thanks! That’s sounds like a great idea! I love a nice soup!
Trash reminded me of you, too! The day after Christmas I saw the overflowing piles of discarded wrapping paper and boxes in our condo’s dumpster and felt so sad. I talked my family into recycling all the cardboard and boxes, but the wrapping paper is tricky. Everyone laughs at me because I unwrap slooowly and carefully at the seams so I can resuse pretty wrapping paper!
Lol, trash reminds you of me!
There is just so much waste and yes it is pretty sad! Hope you had a nice holiday!
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Thanks Raquel!:)
I was really proud that this holiday we had less than a 1/4 of an extra trash bag to set out at the curb! There were years we put out two or three extra bags.
That is great Andrea!! Happy new years!
Love these ideas! We’ve been reusing holiday gift bags for years and some are starting to show some wear and tear, but then we hand them off to our little one to use as containers for toting her blocks around.
Thank you, Becky! That is so wonderful.
I went to my sister-in-laws for dinner at Thanksgiving and as the night was ending and I was appalled when I walked into the kitchen and saw her dumping used coffee grounds on top of the half of a turkey she threw in the garbage. I asked why she threw it away and she said because they don’t do leftovers. I asked if there was any more food she didn’t want and she said if you want it all fine, if not get me a trash bag. I couldn’t save the turkey, but I shudder to think of all the food that was going to go in the trash if I wasn’t there.
It is so sad how much food people waste that is perfectly fine to consume. And I find sometimes leftovers taste better the next day!!!
Great list Steph! we recycle as much as we can and our freezer will be getting some good use! too much turkey!