Green Holiday Ideas
We will all be around family, friends and colleagues this holiday season. While enjoying the holiday cheer let’s also be mindful of our carbon footprint. Here are some small but impactful ways to lessen our waste this holiday season (and all year round).
Reduce Waste
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Cutlery and cups - Ditch the plastic cutlery as it sits in our landfills for estimated more than 200 years before decomposing. Bamboo cutlery is a great alternative as it decomposes in 2-5 months, to 3 years which is significantly shorter. It’s also a natural product and less toxic to our environment.
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Cloth napkins instead of disposable paper napkins - Paper napkins are not recyclable and end up in our landfills since they are soiled.
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Drink dispensers - No more bottles or cans of beverages. Invest in a set of glasses, tumblers for entertaining. A great place to find affordable alternatives to disposable options that we often use is your local thrift store, such as Goodwill. Many people donate platters, serveware and other kitchen goodies. IKEA is also a good place to find glassware and the $1 bins at Target have awesome tumblers for children that are usually decorated with seasonal or character designs.
Host with the Most
As hosts and guests we want to show appreciation. Here are some great gifts to provide your guests or to a host of gatherings you will attend this season.
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Organic wines - Dry farms is a great company of organically grown wine.
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Serving Platter - When bringing a dish to a gathering, gift the serving platter to the host. It’s a small gesture that is greatly appreciated.
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Soy/Natural Candles - Everyone loves candles! Be sure they are soy and natural based to lessen the amount of smoke and air pollution.
