Be Environmentally Safe…Wrap It Up
In a previous blog post I mentioned the insane amount of holiday waste that we as consumers produce this time of year, and one of the ways to reduce that waste is to reuse old wrapping paper, or use newspaper instead. The last thing I want is to be labeled as a hypocrite for not practicing what I preach, so this year I made sure to document my environmentally responsible present wrapping.
Now I want all of you readers to realize that I took a big risk this year by not wrapping my mother’s gifts in the traditional holiday wrapping paper, complete with ribbons, bows, and labels. Instead I decided to rummage through the recycle bin and wrap all of her presents in newspaper. There’s a good chance that this may be the last Christmas I see as a result…
Of course I waited until the last minute to wrap my presents, but I was pleasantly surprised at how quick and easy it was to reduce my eco footprint, and reuse some newspaper. The trip to the basement where we keep our recycling, was actually a lot quicker than running to the store, searching for the best deal on wrapping paper, waiting in line, and driving back home (not to mention cheaper!).
Now I know that newspaper doesn’t hold a candle to the typical holiday wrapping paper in terms of style, but there are creative ways to make your presents stand out. I used the funny section of the paper, the crossword section, the horoscope section, and even gave the Democrat & Chronicle some free PR!
1. Grab some newspaper from your recycle bin
2. Remember where you hid your presents
3. Wrap Presents
(try not to use boxes, ribbons, bows, or massive amounts of tape)
5. Place under tree
(Notice I’m the only green one in the family so far)
See how easy that was?
Think about all of the unnecessary waste that goes into wrapping a present. Cardboard boxes, plastic bows, ribbon, tape, paper labels, tissue paper…all destined for the recycling bin if you’re conscious enough to keep it out of the trash. But saving our environment is not always about recycling. You’ve all heard the phrase “Recycle, Reduce, Reuse” but did you know that reducing and reusing actually conserve the most amount of resources? We here at Sunnking are all about recycling, but we always try to reuse or refurbish whatever we can before turning to recycling.
So for those of you still waiting to wrap your presents before tomorrow morning, there’s still plenty of time to go recycle box diving!
- Happy Holidays -