Reducing Holiday Waste: Simple Steps to Protect Our Planet
Julie Starr • December 24, 2024
The holiday season is a time of joy, giving, and celebration, but it’s also a time of excess. Each year, Americans generate 25% more waste between Thanksgiving and New Year’s—that’s approximately one million extra tons of trash per week. From single-use wrapping paper to food waste and disposable decorations, the environmental impact of the holidays is staggering.
At Taiga Company, we believe that with intentional action, the holidays can still be festive without compromising our planet. Here are the key statistics behind holiday waste and practical solutions for reducing it, including ways consumers and companies can take part in creating a more sustainable future.
The Holiday Waste Problem in Numbers
- 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper: Americans use this much wrapping paper annually, and much of it isn’t recyclable due to metallic coatings or glitter.
- 38,000 miles of ribbon: Enough to wrap around the planet, most of which ends up in landfills.
- 40% of food waste: Nearly half of the food prepared during the holidays goes uneaten.
- 2.3 billion pounds of e-waste: Many old electronics are discarded as new ones are gifted, contributing to rising electronic waste levels.
Alternatives for Responsible Disposal
While these numbers are daunting, small changes can make a big impact. Here are a few sustainable alternatives:
- Rethink Wrapping:
- Use recyclable or reusable materials like kraft paper, fabric wraps, or old maps.
- Avoid wrapping paper with glitter or metallic elements, which cannot be recycled.
- Mindful Gifting:
- Opt for experiences over physical items, such as concert tickets, cooking classes, or charitable donations in a loved one’s name.
- Choose gifts with minimal packaging or items made from sustainable materials.
- Reduce Food Waste:
- Plan holiday meals carefully to avoid over-preparing.
- Donate leftovers to food banks or compost food scraps.
- Recycle Smartly:
- Break down cardboard boxes and remove plastic tape before recycling.
- Research local recycling rules to ensure items are sorted correctly.
- Handle E-Waste Properly:
- Donate old electronics in working condition to schools or charities.
- Use certified e-waste recycling programs to dispose of unusable electronics responsibly.
How Consumers Can Take Part
Individuals play a crucial role in reducing holiday waste. Here’s how:
- Educate Yourself: Learn about what can and cannot be recycled in your area.
- Shop Smart: Purchase items with minimal or recyclable packaging.
- Reuse and Repurpose: Save gift bags, bows, and ribbons for future use.
- Spread the Word: Share tips and resources with friends and family to inspire sustainable holiday habits.
How Companies Can Lead the Way
Companies have a unique opportunity to set the tone for sustainability during the holidays. Here’s how:
- Employee Education:
- Host workshops on reducing waste and responsible recycling.
- Share holiday waste reduction tips via internal communications.
- Community Engagement:
- Partner with local organizations to host recycling or composting events.
- Sponsor donation drives for clothing, electronics, or food.
- Sustainable Gifting:
- Offer eco-friendly corporate gifts or donate to environmental charities in employees’ names.
- Reduce waste from holiday parties by using reusable or compostable serving ware.
- Measure Impact:
- Track waste reduction efforts and share results with employees and the community to encourage ongoing participation.
Benefits of Reducing Holiday Waste
The benefits of holiday waste reduction extend beyond a cleaner planet:
- Fewer Resources Used: By reusing and recycling, we conserve raw materials and reduce the strain on natural ecosystems.
- Lower Carbon Emissions: Cutting down on waste and adopting sustainable practices helps decrease greenhouse gas emissions.
- Improved Community Well-Being: Sustainable practices foster a sense of collective responsibility and environmental stewardship.
This holiday season, let’s celebrate in a way that honors both tradition and the planet. By making small, intentional changes, we can significantly reduce waste and create a positive ripple effect that benefits everyone. At Taiga Company, we’re here to support individuals and organizations in their sustainability journeys, ensuring that our celebrations align with the values of environmental stewardship and care.
Ready to make this season greener?
Contact us to learn how we can help your company lead the way in holiday sustainability efforts.
You've probably swapped out the plastic straws for the reusable or bamboo ones, and you've remembered your tote bags at the grocery store. You might have even composted a banana peel or two. But going green or living a sustainable lifestyle on a bigger scale takes a lot more work and a lot more consideration. Building sustainability into your community isn't just good for the environment, it's also a fast tech way to bring people together and reduce your costs. If you want a healthier and happier place to live, the best thing you can do is make sure that your environment is a healthy one. Let's take a look at some simple ways that you can make your community more sustainable. Build a community garden There are a few things more satisfying than growing your own food, but if you get all of your neighbors involved you can make it a community effort. You can each choose a vegetable or a fruit to grow and then work with one another to trade off. One of you could grow zucchinis and others can grow capsicums and you can then build a community where you can even make your own salsas. Add compost bins to your neighborhood to keep the food scraps out of the landfill, and feed your gardens at the same time. Promote solar power for your public spaces One of the most powerful ways to gratify the community is to harness the power of the actual sun. By encouraging solar panel installation for public housing , community centers and schools, you can help reduce utility costs, promote long term energy independence and cut carbon emissions. It's a smarter solution that benefits everybody involved, especially in areas where energy affordability matters the most. Host a green clean up day Bringing your community together with an eco-friendly clean up day is a great way to introduce and maintain sustainability concepts into the neighborhood. A volunteer group can pick up litter, plant trees, recycle electronics or even paint over graffiti. Once a month you could trade off who does a run to the tip for any overflowing rubbish so that your neighborhood stays clean and tidy. You can make this quite the event and generally when people come together to work in a community it goes very well. Opt for better community lighting Traditional street and building lights are energy hogs, but switching to LED lighting can slash your energy usage while making public areas safer and brighter. Work with local leaders in your local councils as well as property managers to explore a lighting upgrade in your parks, schools and public walkways. Not only will these last longer, but they'll also reduce maintenance costs and look great doing it. Organize car free days Cars are great, but they're not always the most sustainable option. If as a community, you campaign for a better local bus service or bike rally , you'll be able to reduce emissions, promote exercise and reimagine your streets as a community. No matter where you begin—whether it’s planting a garden, organizing a cleanup, or switching to renewable energy—your efforts ripple outward. And in today’s world, your local sustainability work can inspire others far beyond your block. Remember to use social media to share what you're doing, highlight community partners, and tag your city or neighborhood to encourage broader participation. A t Taiga Company , we believe that communications are a critical tool for scaling impact. A single post or photo can spark momentum, draw support, and help shape a culture of sustainability — one story, one neighborhood, one city at a time.
There are several powerful reasons why you might want to make sure you are taking good care of your place of business . For one thing, it is often going to mean that you are much more likely to give off a good first impression to people, and that can be really powerful and important from a marketing point of view and as branding. But it’s also about making sure your people have a good place to work, and doing all you can to keep that the case. This is going to be hugely important for your workforce and therefore the future of your business. Given that, what are some of the things that you should make sure you are thinking about here? In this post, we are going to discuss some of the main ways to take good care of your place of business. If you are bearing in mind at least some of the following, you should find that this is much more likely to succeed. Let’s take a look. Cleanliness Is Vital If you want to make sure that your place of work is as good as can be, one of the main things you’ll want to look into is cleanliness. Keeping the place clean is the kind of thing that is both really simple and yet hugely powerful, and it’s vital to make sure that you are doing all you can to really make this work. So it’s something you are certainly going to want to think about if you are keen on making sure your place of business is working as well as it should. This is also about making a good first impression, and if your place of business is clean that is definitely going to be much easier to make sure of. So if you are doing that, you can be certain that your place of business is going to be so much better all in all. Routine Maintenance This is another vital thing that is going to make things a lot easier in the workplace. If you are able to keep the maintenance of your place of business under wraps, that is going to really help a lot, and it’s going to mean that you are so much more likely to be able to keep your business itself credible as well. The fact is that good maintenance, and especially having a strong routine for your maintenance, will help you in voiding most of the headaches that you are otherwise going to come up against. So this really is a hugely important concern that you need to be aware of. Small things like leaky faucets can add up to be huge problems if you are not careful, so it’s vital to make sure that you are doing all you can to avoid these sorts of issues. It’s all about checking routeinly and making sure that there is someone in charge who can really help and do what is needed. If you can do that, it really will make a huge difference to the business itself. Keep The Exterior Tidy You should also make sure you are thinking about the exterior of the building, and that you are doing all you can to try and keep this as tidy as possible. If you are able to do that, it’s the kind of thing that is really going to make a world of difference to what people think of your business, so that is something that you should certainly focus on here. Keeping the exterior tidy can be made easier with use of an edger for any grass edges, as well as making sure that you are keeping the whole place weed-free. These are the sorts of things that really help. It also means checking the outside of the building, to see whether you might need to install a new sign or whether the exterior just needs a clean. These are the kinds of things that really make a huge difference to how people perceive the business, so it’s vital to make sure that you are aware of this. Safety First Throughout all of this, you need to remember that your business needs to focus on safety above all. So everything you do in the place of business should take this into account, and you need to make sure that you are aware of some of the ways in which you can make this a reality. If you can do that, it really is going to help. At its core, taking care of your place of business isn’t just about operations—it’s a reflection of the values you embody as a brand. A clean, safe, and well-maintained space communicates respect for your employees, pride in your work, and a commitment to long-term stewardship. These are also foundational principles of sustainability. At Taiga Company, we help businesses translate those principles into clear, engaging communications , supporting internal alignment, external brand trust, and stakeholder engagement around sustainability and workplace integrity.