As families make plans to gather for festive meals and gift exchanges, city waste crews are preparing for their busiest time of the year. Between wrapping paper, food scraps and packaging and shipping materials, household waste can increase dramatically during the holiday season.
Keima Borsuah, Oklahoma State University Extension assistant state specialist with the Solid Waste Management Program, said household waste typically increases from November through the first of the year.
“Families generally increase waste output by about 25% during the holiday season,” she said. “People are hosting get-togethers that generate more paper food waste. All of this ends up in landfills. With a little pre-planning and thinking outside of the box, families can reduce their waste footprint this year.”
Borsuah has some helpful ideas on how to reduce, reuse and recycle this holiday season:
- Give gifts of experiences or time instead of material things, such as concert tickets, a membership to the local zoo or an afternoon of making cookies.
- Shop at thrift stores for gifts and holiday decorations.
- Consider giving sustainable gifts, such as a reusable water bottle or cloth grocery bags.
- When hosting a party, use regular plates, cups, and silverware that can be used repeatedly. Most disposable items don’t decompose quickly. It takes 500 years for Styrofoam to decompose.
- Don’t prepare more food than needed. Some people dislike eating leftovers, and food waste contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Compost food scraps when possible.
- When wrapping gifts, use reusable materials such as bandanas, leftover material from a sewing project or comics from the newspaper. Americans generate an additional 4 million tons of wrapping paper and gift bag waste each year. Save gift bags to reuse year to year.
- Consider sending e-cards instead of traditional holiday cards. Consumers not only save money by not buying cards, but they also save by not having to buy stamps.
Matt Faulkner, solid waste director for the City of Stillwater, said his crew starts seeing an increase in waste the week of Thanksgiving.
“For residential families, we see about a 15% increase,” he said. “Stillwater is a bit unique because a lot of our population is college students who leave town during the holidays. We actually see a decrease in commercial waste at the apartment complexes when students leave.”
An increased amount of cardboard is typical during the holidays, along with larger amounts of packing materials, plastic packaging, plastic clamshell packaging and wrapping paper.
“Many children’s toys have excess packaging. Fortunately, most of these materials can be recycled,” Faulkner said. “Wrapping paper can be tricky. The plain, regular paper is ok, but the glittery, shiny wrapping paper can’t be recycled.”
Stillwater residents who find their trash bins overflowing can purchase blue bags that can be put on the curb on the regular trash pickup day. He suggests Oklahoma residents check with their city to see what options are available for excess waste. Consumers can also check their city’s website for the steps needed to recycle cardboard.
When the holidays are over, Faulkner said his crews find a lot of Christmas trees on the curb. Trees residents bring to the Convenience Collection Center, 807 S. Perkins Rd., will be mulched and used in landscaping projects. Trees picked up with yard waste are not mulched. Again, check with the local municipality to see what recycling options are available for Christmas trees.
“Oklahoma families can make a difference by taking small, mindful steps as they plan and celebrate this holiday season,” Borsuah said. “Cutting back on waste won’t cut back on the joy of the season.”
