Five Ways You Can Pull the Plug on Holiday Waste This Year

Between twinkling lights, roaring fires, and tons of tinsel, Americans generate a lot of waste and use a lot of energy over the holiday season — our decorative lights alone generate enough power each year to keep 14 million refrigerators running.

But you don’t need to swear off wrapping paper or leave those lights tangled up in a box this year. We’re not asking you to completely pull the plug on your holiday decorations — we’re just asking you to decorate better.

From setting your lights on a timer or switching to LED bulbs and recyclable paper, there are tons of simple steps you can take to reduce your impact and make sure your holiday decor isn’t a drain on the planet.

Here’s how.

Trees

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree — how massive is your carbon footprint! Just around three-quarters of American households typically display a tree — and over 80 percent of those are artificial. Most of those fake trees are made overseas, of materials like plastics, metals, and cheaply produced PVC, meaning that most of these artificial trees go from being the centerpiece of a holiday decorating scheme to being the centerpiece of a growing pile of tinseled trash at your local landfill.

Studies have shown that, thanks to their ability to absorb CO2, a real tree generates fewer emissions than an artificial one, but the balance gets a little bit closer to even if you keep your artificial tree for at least eight years (or preferably closer to 20).

Ideally, reusing a live, potted tree each year is your best bet, but if you do get a real one, find one that has been grown locally and one you don’t need to drive too far to get. If you do go the artificial route, make sure it’s a keeper — buy used if possible, and reuse it for as long as you can. Either way, make sure that your tree, when you’re done with it, is reused or recycled in as sustainable a manner as possible.

Wrapping Paper + Sustainable Gifts

Americans generate about 25% more extra waste each year from Thanksgiving to New Year’s — and some simple actions could go a long way to prevent it. While we always suggest buying sustainably sourced gifts whenever possible, sometimes how you wrap your presents can be just as important as what’s in the box. If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon each year, we could tie a bow around the entire planet — and if those same families wrapped just 3 presents with reused materials, it would save enough material to cover 45,000 football fields.

Instead of a traditional card, consider an e-card or a telephone call to friends and family—or at the very least, use recycled or sustainably produced paper.

Holiday Cards + Decorations

And as long as we’re putting things in football fields, let’s talk about holiday cards. Each year, 2.6 billion holiday cards are sold in the U.S., which is enough to fill a football field with a pile 10 stories high. If you’re sending out some printed season’s greetings this year, make sure your yuletide cheer is being delivered on sustainably produced or recycled paper.

This is close to 6.6 billion kilowatt hours of electricity consumption every year.

Energy/LED

It’s not an exaggeration to say that America’s holiday lights generate enough energy to power a small country, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep yourself in the dark this year. Simple actions like switching to LED or making sure your lights are on a timer are easy ways to ensure that your holiday cheer doesn’t leave the planet feeling burnt out.

LEDs use 90% percent less energy than incandescent bulbs, but generate the same amount of light.

Offsets

Even the most sustainable celebrator is going to have trouble making sure their holiday celebration is as carbon-neutral as it is festive, but we’re not asking you to hide your love for the holidays. This year, do your best — then offset the rest and help the planet shine a little more brightly this season.