Trim Your Holiday Waste

SEATTLE- Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Americans throw away 25 percent more trash than any other time of the year.* Consider:

• The 2.6 billion holiday cards that Americans purchased last year could fill a football field ten stories high.**
• If every family reused two feet of holiday ribbon, that 38,000 miles of ribbon could tie a bow around the Earth.**
• If every American wrapped three gifts in reused paper, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. **
• Each year, between 25 and 30 million Christmas trees are purchased in the United States. ***
• More than 50 million pounds of electronics will become obsolete in the Puget Sound area this year. ****
• Americans dispose of 50 million tons of edible food each year, valued at $100 billion. 33 percent of Seattle’s residential garbage is made up of food. 1

This season, Seattle Public Utilities offers the following tips to prevent holiday waste:

• Bring a reusable cloth bag to carry your gifts when you go shopping.
• Reuse or recycle used wrapping paper. Wrap gifts in recycled or reused wrapping paper or funny papers.
• Send recycled-content greeting cards and recycle any paper cards you receive. Sending electronic greeting cards is a great way to reduce paper waste.
• Buy rechargeable batteries. Consider giving a battery charger as a gift.
• Consider buying a reusable tree to reduce waste. If you use a live tree, plant it or recycle it!
• Give the gift of experience instead of stuff through the Waste Free Holidays program. More than 100 local businesses and organizations offer discounts of 15 percent or more on “experience gifts” - tickets, gift certificates or memberships for concerts, plays, sporting events, recreation, museums, restaurants, spa treatments and much more. Find Waste Free Holidays participants at www.wastefreeholidays.com
• Reuse Styrofoam packaging or take it to a shipping store. For a list of local mailing centers that will take packing peanuts for reuse, visit www.resourceventure.org/database.htm , under “Office Materials.”
• Consider the durability of a product before you buy it as a gift. Cheaper, less durable items often wear out quickly, creating waste and costing you money.
• Buy recycled-content products to encourage manufacturers to make more recycled-content products available.
• Recycle your old TV, computer or other electronics at a Take It Back Network location near you. Visit www.takeitbacknetwork.org for information.
• Put your leftover fruitcake, pumpkin pie, paper napkins and other vegetative leftovers in your yard waste cart to make compost for local parks and gardens. Donate non-perishable food at your local food bank.

Sources
* King County Solid Waste Division
** EPA Use Less Stuff Report
*** National Christmas Tree Association
**** Take it Back Network
1 Tucson Citizen, Seattle Public Utilities