As we kick-off the holidays, it’s important to keep the environment in mind. Whether you’re attending holiday parties or shopping for presents, here’s a list of ways to be more eco-friendly this season.
Choose Reusable
- Choose items that can be reused over and over as opposed to single-use plastics. If you’re hosting a holiday party, use real dishes and cutlery. It may take longer to clean-up, but you’re doing the environment a favour in the long-run. You can also use real baking dishes when baking hot foods instead of using aluminum foil pie plates and trays, which are single-use.
Excess Packaging
- There is going to be a lot of packaging over the holiday season. To start, recycle the accepted materials in the blue bin. Our recycling guides are available to download and print if you need a refresher.
- When it comes to wrapping your gifts, think of a reusable option to cut back on waste. Wrapping paper and cellophane are not accepted in your blue bin. Try wrapping your gifts in a recyclable option, such as newspaper or craft paper. Or put your gifts in a reusable bag that they can use in the future.
Holiday Decorations
- If you’re decorating your home for the holidays, reuse decorations from previous years instead of buying new ones. If you are purchasing decorations, look at a thrift store for gently used items. You might be able to find something unique!
Christmas Tree Recycling
- Many municipalities offer a Christmas tree recycling program for their residents. If you have a real tree, bring it to your local depot for recycling. Reach out to your local municipality for details.
Here’s a list of common items that you’ll find around the holidays, and what you should do with them.
- Aluminum foil, Pie Plates and Trays: Garbage.
- Bows and Ribbon: Reuse if possible, otherwise garbage.
- Blister packaging: These are hard to open containers you’ll find consumer products in. These are accepted in your blue bin.
- Cardboard: Recycle in your blue bin. Flatten boxes to save space for other recyclables.
- Cellophane: Garbage.
- Christmas trees and Wreaths (real): Most municipalities run a Christmas tree recycling program for residents. Contact your municipality for details.
- Christmas trees and Wreaths (artificial): Reuse or donate.
- Decorations: Reuse or donate.
- Foam packaging (Styrofoam): Garbage.
- Gift bags (mesh): Reuse
- Gift bags (cloth): Reuse or donate to a secondhand store.
- Gift bags (paper): Recycle in your blue bin or reuse.
- Gift boxes: Recycle in your blue bin or reuse.
- Gift tags (paper): Recycle in your blue bin.
- Greeting cards: Recycle in your blue bin.
- Lights: Reuse or donate.
- Plastic cards (i.e. Gift cards): Garbage.
- Plastic cutlery and Plates: Garbage.
- Tinsel: Garbage.
- Wrapping paper (from a tree): This is also known as craft paper. Recycle this in your blue bin.
- Wrapping paper (with dyes, glitter or foil): Reuse if possible, otherwise garbage.
