Go Green With Your Holiday Presents

Half of the paper America consumes each year is used to wrap and decorate consumer products.  In the US, the annual trash from gift wrap and shopping bags totals over 4 million tons.  If everyone wrapped just three gifts in reused paper or fabric gift bags, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 hockey rinks.  As Christmas nears, it is important to remember these facts and the impact of wrapping paper on the environment, and it is a great opportunity to lessen your impact this year by choosing only green alternatives to conventional wrapping paper.

• Use wrapping paper made using fibers such as hemp.  Look for paper using recycled content.
• Avoid buying glossy foil or metallic wrapping paper- this kind of material is difficult to recycle.
• Reuse gift wrap when possible- large wrapped presents usually have large enough uncreased sections to be reused for wrapping small gifts.
• Use tape sparingly, or not at all- if you’re going to be using ribbon to finish off your wrapping, you may not need to use tape.  By not using tape, more of the wrapping paper can be reclaimed, and it’s easier for the recipient to save the paper for reuse.
• Choose alternatives to commercial gift wrap- there are many options which are cost-free, attractive solutions.  Gift bags can be made using fabric scraps, or wrapping can be made using comic strips from newspapers, old calendars, maps, posters, and more.

Some companies that offer recycled gift wrap:

Fish Lips Paper Designs - made from 100% recycled paper and soy based inks

Paper Mojo – made from all natural materials such as recycled cotton, banana fiber, and mulberries

Green Field Paper  - 100% recycled, printed with soy based inks