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The holidays are over. Now, 'tis the season to deal with all the stuff that's snuck into your home during the festivities. Check out these 10 green solutions for everything from what to do with your Christmas tree to how to banish unwanted gifts without clogging the landfill. You can streamline your lifestyle for the New Year, and get a start on all your green resolutions, by wrapping up the holiday season with eco-friendly de-cluttering.
Meaghan O'Neill, editor of PlanetGreen.com and Treehugger.com, has the facts on why this is one of the most important times of year to think about garbage. O'Neill says "In the United States, our waste stream increases by about 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year's, bringing the total amount of stuff we toss out to more than 25 million tons." In the post-holiday weeks, you'll want to get rid of all kinds of stuff, including (but not limited to) inappropriate presents, and the stacks of greeting cards you've been sent by your friends, your neighbors, your Aunt Mabel, your auto mechanic, and everyone in between. Doing it the green way has a big impact on your ecological footprint, so check out these tips to keep your life free of clutter without packing more trash into greenhouse-gas producing landfills:
- Be paper-savvy. Recycling all your wrapping paper and cards isn't just a matter of throwing the whole pile into the bin. If it's super-shiny or glittery, it probably has to go in the trash. Simpler, plainer papers can be tossed in your curbside recycling bin, and the same goes for greeting cards. In addition to sending appropriate recyclables on their merry way, you can save and store a lot of what you've got to get a jump on next year's wrapping, especially when it comes to bags and bows, and you can make this year's holiday cards into tags for next year's presents.
- Mulch your tree. If you're using a cut evergreen this year, find out where you can get it picked up, or where to deliver it, so that it can be mulched for use in landscaping instead of ending up in a landfill. You can get details for your area at Earth 911.
For 8 more eco-smart ideas, read the rest of the article here: 10 Tips: How to Recover from Holiday Clutter at The Takeaway.
