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Don't
Waste Your Holiday
Submitted
by Lilkeisha M. Smith, Public Affairs Intern
The
holidays bring on a lot of things, family
get-together's, food, festivities, and presents.
While businesses anticipate high sales during
this season, landfills anticipate more waste.
Between November and January, there is a 25
percent increase in waste nationwide. That's
25 million tons of garbage produced during
the holidays. While everyone enjoys giving
and receiving, give a gift to the environment
and help reduce waste, energy consumption
and promote clean air. Don't know where to
begin? Here are a few tips that can help you
be environmentally friendly this holiday season.
Gifts,
Cards, etc.
Everyone
has received a gift that they wish was never
given to them. While you may fake a smile
and promise to use it or cherish it always,
it may wind up in the garbage, filling up
our landfills. Add that to the excessive amounts
of cards and catalogs that flood our mailboxes
every year and you can see the problem. Over
2.65 billion Christmas cards are sold each
year in the U.S. This amount could fill up
a 10 story building - that's the length of
a football field. To save you the hassle of
finding the perfect gift or the right words
for each card, consider some of these options:
Send
electronic cards. If we each sent one less
card, we'd save 50,000 cubic yards of paper
(www.egreetings.com or www.bluemountain.com
has a great variety).
Donate unwanted gifts to organizations in need
(crisis centers, homeless shelters, daycare
facilities, etc.). Consider giving gift certificates
or if they are socially conscience, make a donation
to their favorite cause in their name. Update
your mailing list to reduce mail volume. Think
about giving gifts that don't need to be wrapped
or create a scavenger hunt around the house.
This gets the family actively involved and kids
love to hunt for presents! When sending items
through mail, pick items that are easy to ship
and won't require excess packaging (some stores
will ship items for a small fee).
Conservation
Chestnuts
aren't the only things that have to roast
in front of an open fire. These tips will
help you save the environment, as well as,
your energy bill.
•
To conserve energy, try cuddling up by the
fire. Lighting candles instead of turning
on lights is a great way to relax and save
on your energy bill.
•
Turn down the heat before guests arrive. The
extra body heat in the house will keep the
temperature comfortable.
•
Look for smaller bulbs when purchasing outdoor
lighting. The smaller the bulb, the lower
the wattage. These low wattage bulbs consume
less energy and give off less heat, making
them safer and more energy efficient.
•
Thinking about giving electronics as a gift?
Purchase items that come equipped with EnergyStar
tm. This is an energy conserving program already
built into most electronic equipment.
•
Plan wisely and combine shopping trips and
walk or carpool to neighborhood parties. Unnecessary
trips can be harmful to our air quality. If
each family reduced its holiday gas consumption
by one gallon (roughly 20 miles), greenhouse
gas emissions can be reduced by 1 million
tons! Plus, it's less time facing holiday
traffic.
•
Consider purchasing compact fluorescent bulbs.
They provide as much light as regular incandescent
bulbs while using ¼ the energy. These
great bulbs also last ten times longer than
their energy draining counterparts. While
they may cost more initially, they will save
you money in the long run.
Holiday
Food
During
the holiday season, over 28 billion pounds
of edible food is wasted. That totals over
100 pounds per person. Instead of tossing
your leftovers consider:
Donating leftovers to shelters or food banks.
Practice portion control and plan meals wisely.
Send leftovers home with your guests Compost
your food waste. Fruits and vegetables are great
composting materials.
By
following these tips, you can not only save
yourself time and energy, but you can also
give a great gift to the environment. Call
our recycling hotline at (513) 946-7766 or
visit our website at www.hcdoes.org for more
information.
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For
more information on this event and a host
of other useful information and events, contact
the Hamilton County Department of Enviormental
Services at
(513)
946-7766, or visit their website at www.hcdoes.org
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