More holiday recycling tips!

Its the big clean up after the holidays and being eco-conscious we’re all trying to do our bit and reduce, reuse, and recycle. Obviously it’s the post holiday phase so ways of reducing our impact has past and we’re left with the aftermath of received waste from greeting cards, decorations, and gift wrap. How to deal with it all is to use the last two R’s: reuse and recycle! If like me you keep your wrapping supplies from gifts received all you simply need to do is sort through the pile and work out what can be reused as is, and what cannot. Gift bags and boxes can always been reused either for different occasions or for next years holiday gifts. But what about the items that cannot be reused as is? That need a little work, torn paper, greeting cards, the ribbon and bows? We’ve got help with this list of tips for holiday recycling!

Give to Charity
Many charities offer recycling programs for greeting cards check out your local resources for programs in your area. If you cannot find a local charity how about mailing your cards instead? St Judes Ranch has a recycling program to help their charity and gets their children involved in the process. The cards are re-crafted into new cards and sold by the children to support their ranch. Simply mail your cards to:

St. Jude’s Ranch for Children
Recycled Card Program
100 St. Jude’s Street
Boulder City, NV 89005

Get Crafty

If you are heavily into arts and crafts and making your own greeting cards then holidays are a boom time of year for stocking up on supplies! I admit I am a crafter, and once the holidays are over I collect all our cards and hack them with a pair of scissors. Everything that can be salvaged is, and anything not able to be used gets recycled. Even the children can join in, cutting cards into gift tags for the following year. If you aren’t crafty yourself how about a family member or friend? No respectable crafter turns down free supplies, and eco-friendly too!

Give to schools/childrens group
Wrapping paper, bows, ribbons, greeting cards, all able to be used for art projects at your local school or children’s play group. Kids don’t care that items are old or reused, they just love creating, so save up those paper scraps, the cards and bundle them off with little Johnny as you head into school for the new term.

Recycle what you can’t use
If you’ve raided the stash for craft supplies, sent off cards to charity, and given to your local school and still have supplies left, then recycle. Paper and *cards can be put into your recycle recepticle and possibly even plastic ribbon/wrapping though I wouldn’t know I’ve always managed to reuse it in some way. *Remember that those cards with electronic components like the song playing cards need special recycling handling. Some places do take them for recycling so check your local resources before sending them on a one way trip to the landfill!

Remember to REDUCE next year
It’s all very well reusing and recycling but how about reducing the impact in the first place. Follow some of our recent advice on ecofriendly.com about using reusable gift wrapping, on giving non-impact gifts or even not giving gifts at all.

dalgal | My Bio & Articles