When your Christmas shopping is done, it’s time to pack. Luckily, there are ways to make your gift packaging reflect your environmental values. Here’s a guide to help you make the best choice, but also to know how to dispose of them once the gifts have been unwrapped.
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First, a golden rule: avoid over-packaging. Putting a bottle of wine – or any other item – in a box, wrapping it in gift paper and then putting it in a bag decorated with tissue paper is a bit of an overkill. Any of these options will do the trick!
To ensure the most environmentally friendly packaging, remember the famous 3RVs: reduce, reuse, recycle and recover. If we reduce by being careful not to wrap our gifts, we can also reuse them.
Cleverly folded and tied, any fabric you no longer use can become a one-of-a-kind shawl. It’s called furoshiki, a traditional Japanese gift wrapping technique. Custom dictates that the person receiving the gift returns the furoshiki to the person who gave it to him or her. But nothing prevents the recipient from keeping it for themselves – it’s like a bonus gift! – or to wrap another gift.
Photo Adobe Stock
A gift wrapped using the traditional Japanese furoshiki technique.
Newsprint – a 24 hour weekly that you would have kept for example! – or magazine pages are further alternatives that correspond to the principle of reuse.
However, if you’re more of the traditional packaging type, here are some tips:
- Go for real paper that tears easily. Avoid metalized or laminated wrapping paper. The more artistic among you can also choose blank kraft paper and draw to make it more festive.
- For gift bags, choose ones made of paper or cardstock made from a single material. Choose bags whose handle is made of the same material as the bag.
- When it comes to tissue paper, always choose 100% tissue paper. Stay away from tissue paper decorated with decorative plastic elements such as small stars or fir trees.
Once unpacked
After the fun of unwrapping presents comes the cleaning. With every piece of packaging, the question arises: does it go in the recycling bin or in the garbage?
Good news: Wrapping paper that tears easily and is not metalized or laminated, newspaper or magazine paper, single-material gift bags and tissue paper without decorative plastic elements all go in the recycling bin
What about rungs and ribbons? Although they are made of plastic, they are not recyclable or recyclable as the type of plastic cannot be identified. Also, you should know that cabbage and ribbons are not intended for recycling, so there are few points of sale for them.
The principle of reuse also applies in this respect. Save cabbage and ribbons and reuse them as often as possible because at the end of their lives they will have to be thrown in the trash.
These few simple tips will help you make your Christmas greener, even though we basically like our Christmas whites.
Tricentris is a sorting center serving 234 communities in Quebec. Thanks to its informative articles, this cooperative helps us to base our consumption choices on what is recyclable, thus reducing our impact on the environment.