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How to Have a Plastic-Free Christmas

December 11, 2012 By Lisa Sharp 5 Comments

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Plastic is a big problem during the holiday season. Use these easy tips to have a plastic-free Christmas or at least reduce your plastic use over the holidays.

Christmas presents wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with red and white string

Plastic is everywhere during the holiday season, plastic trees, plastic gifts, plastic bags from shopping, plastic wrapping, and so much more.

Even though I try to avoid plastic I have to say I’m sitting next to our artificial tree. I’m allergic to the real thing and just can’t imagine not having any tree. There are also some plastic ornaments and candy canes wrapped in plastic on the tree.

The tree is at least mostly PE plastic which is safer than PVC which most trees are made of, the ornaments are used every year and most are glass, and the candy canes are organic. There are many ways we can reduce the plastic we are consuming this holiday season though.

How to Have a Plastic-Free Christmas

Plastic-Free Ornaments

Use glass, metal, or natural fiber, like wool, ornaments. There are so many great ornaments out there that aren’t plastic. I love vintage mercury glass ornaments. They are beautiful and buying vintage means no new materials needed to be used. They are also very trendy right now. 

Related Resource: Protecting Your Family From Lead

Go with Real Greenery

greenery and ribbons on table

Assuming you aren’t allergic to real greenery, choose sustainably raised greenery and trees. For extra greenery pieces ask places selling trees if you can use the pieces that have been dropped. You can create some great greenery pieces with these normally trashed pieces and usually, you can get them for free.

If you are allergic to the real thing look for PE plastic instead of PVC. PVC contains lead and is best to avoid. Most trees and other greenery that say “most realistic” contains at least a large percentage of PE plastic. If you do end up with PVC be sure to vacuum and dust often and don’t let your kids touch it.

A great plastic-free option for wreaths is to make a rag wreath. They are fun and easy to make and can be made using scrap fabric for a very eco-friendly project.

Related Resource: Eco-Friendly Artificial Christmas Tree

Choose Recycled, Recyclable, or Reusable Gift Wrap

Woman wrapping Christmas present

Traditional wrapping paper isn’t recycled or even recyclable. Look for ones that are instead. You can also use things like scarves, fabric, or towels to wrap gifts. A newspaper is a lot of fun as well and you can decorate it to make it look really beautiful. 

You can now also buy beautiful fabric gift bags that are reusable. My husband loves these because it’s so easy for him to wrap gifts. No cutting, taping, or even tissue paper. 

Additional Resource: Eco-Friendly Holiday Gift Wrapping Guide

Avoid Plastic Gifts

Look for gifts that contain more sustainable materials. There are a lot of great wooden toys for kids and adults look for glass and other sustainable materials. Or skip the material gifts and give experience gifts or donations instead. 

Additional Resource: 14 Amazing Ways to Repurpose Items- Easy and Fun Gifts

Use Reusable Bags While Shopping

Green Christmas reusable bag

A really easy way to reduce your plastic use this year is using reusable shopping bags while doing your Christmas shopping.

Plastic bags are causing so many environmental issues. It’s hard to believe something so small could cause so many problems but it’s estimated that 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed each year! So those little bags really add up. It’s estimated that a million seabirds and 100,000 animals die from plastic bags and other waste each year. These bags come with a big price.

You can even get cute Christmas reusable bags for your Christmas shopping each year, or give them as gifts!

Additional Eco-Friendly Christmas Resources

  • 10 Tips for Reducing Waste During Christmas
  • Lead Exposure and Christmas Photos

Be sure to sign up below for access to my free resource library and to get even more holiday tips in your inbox.

Christmas presents wrapped in plain brown paper and tied with red and white string

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Filed Under: Christmas, Holidays

Previous Post: « Green Gifts Under $10
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shane@FactoryDPromos

    December 11, 2012 at 10:32 pm

    What an inspiring post! Thank you so much for sharing our bag ban map. Beth Terry’s book is a perfect gift for sure for any reason but especially for the holidays.

    Thanks again for all of your great tips and for all you do to propel so many people toward a greener way of life.
    Shane
    FDP, CMO

    Reply
  2. RecycleCindy

    December 12, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    Great post and thanks for all the ideas on how to fight plastic waste. As you say some plastic is unavoidable so it’s just important that we recycle it or repurpose it into useful things.

    Reply
  3. Lena Mumma

    December 29, 2012 at 10:55 pm

    Thanks for the tips and resources. After watching the documentary Plastic Planet (currently free on Youtube) I was SHOCKED and INSPIRED to change my plastic ways!

    I find it very sad and ironic how so many people trash the planet during times of thanks (ThanksGiving) and celebrating a birthday (Christmas)!

    Here is how me and my husband spent/invested part of our holiday

    Reply
    • Lisa Sharp

      January 3, 2013 at 1:01 pm

      Your welcome. It is amazing how much trash we create in such a short time. If you haven’t already be sure to check out My Plastic-Free Life, it’s a blog run by a friend of mine that has some amazing plastic-free tips. http://www.myplasticfreelife.com

      Reply
  4. Clarrissa

    October 4, 2019 at 7:41 pm

    It’s really about reevaluating everything you used to do for holidays and thinking about how to make it green! Great tips. Thank you for writing this. I love the idea of the rag wreath! I think I will be using that for a Christmas party I”m planning!

    Reply

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Welcome to my blog! My name is Lisa and I'm the Retro Housewife trying to live a greener life. I share my love of all things vintage, homemaking and green living here on the blog. To read more, click here.

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