By Evelyn Long, editor-in-chief of Renovated
Everyone wants to do their part in reducing waste. Images of piling landfills and trash-laden oceans are enough to convince most people to think about what they throw away. However, the holidays present a unique pressure on landfills, and every household and business can put fewer stressors on the world by reconsidering seasonal shopping habits.
Current State of Trash and Landfills
The global population is ballooning. Companies haven’t crafted the most sustainable replacements for wasteful products, and cities haven’t given every residence the same privilege to dispose of stuff responsibly. Not every household contributes equally to lowering individual waste generation. These factors, alongside rampant overconsumption, have led to towering, overflowing landfills.
Waste in Numbers
Humanity produces over 2 billion metric tons of waste annually. By 2050, this number will likely rise by about 70%. Food and e-waste are some of the most prominent waste streams. Tossed food accounts for around half the planet’s trash, while electronics will reach 75 million tons by 2030. In 2022, 10,000 tons of waste headed to the biggest global dumps every day, but this number spikes during specific points throughout the year.
Holiday Spikes
How do these numbers change around the most popular holidays? In the United States, late autumn and winter have the densest sequential festivities, with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas and New Year’s right around the corner. While these festivities vary from nation to nation, any condensed string of holidays will likely produce more trash from similar shopping behaviors.
Waste generation increases between 25%-43% during this celebratory time of year. More people are spending money around this time, decorating their homes to embrace the seasonal aesthetics, cooking family meals, getting new clothes to combat the chilly temperatures or purchasing expensive gifts for loved ones — that they may or may not even want.
Perspective Shifts
It feels festive when it’s happening, but the overconsumption at retail outlets translates to stressed trash cans and often-neglected recycling bins. People are also purchasing potentially wasteful experiences. Is an airline ticket necessary if someone could take public transportation or drive? Compound this with the existing landfill problem, and it signifies a deeper problem that needs to be addressed.
Shopping Categories With the Biggest Impact
When the holidays kick in, people often shop in ways that differ from the rest of the year. What are the worst offenders for producing seasonal trash?
Home Decor
This is one of the most expansive and harmful aspects of holiday shopping because it can take so many forms. Additionally, it’s a type of shopping people don’t participate in most other parts of the year.
Yearly, the United Kingdom uses 8 million trees for Christmas, producing 12,000 tons of waste — this isn’t including the additional 14% of folks throwing away reusable fake trees annually. Trees and their accessories, like tinsel and garland, blow away from landfills and end up in oceans and other habitats.
Other seasonal decor waste is more unassuming, like candles. The colder, darker months make people cozy up in their homes, craving the smells associated with the seasons, like pine and pumpkin. Most candles have paraffin wax, made from fossil fuels. An estimated 35% of candle purchases, whether for homes or gifts, sell during the holidays.
Decor wouldn’t be as offensive to landfills if it weren’t for hyperconsumerism and retail mindsets. Businesses want buyers to purchase new decor yearly instead of reusing, incentivizing new purchases with designs that meet current trends. These could include but are not limited to:
- Throw pillows
- Wreaths and door accessories
- Lawn ornamentation
- Plastic knickknacks
Seasonal Food Waste
While food is one of the best reasons for the season, most of it goes to waste. Food-centered holidays, like Thanksgiving, are some of the most problematic despite their sharing mentality. Tossed turkey alone accounts for 1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in addition to the millions of pounds of discarded food. This doesn’t even account for the rest of the Thanksgiving plate or the impact of other holidays.
Fast Fashion
The fall and winter styles are charming, colorful and cozy. Storefronts know this is the time to entice buyers to get a whole new wardrobe to stay warm for the season. Fast fashion is one of the biggest contributors to the climate crisis all year, and it worsens during seasonal festivities.
Steep discounts and poor-quality clothes lead to an influx of clothing hauls, unwanted gifts and countless returns. These issues generate carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to 3.5 million cars on the road. Fast fashion creates substantial waste in addition to the physical trash.
Other Concerns
From gift-giving to online ordering, here are a few other prominent trash categories:
- Packaging from e-commerce
- Paper products, like greeting cards and wrapping paper
- Electronics and toys for gifts
- Cosmetics, like skin care products, as people spend more time indoors
Tips for Minimizing Seasonal Waste
Take a stand against the problem by adopting more sustainable habits, no matter what holiday.
Reconsider Shopping and Cooking Habits
There are countless ways to be more sustainable with food this holiday season. Reduce waste and emissions simultaneously by:
- Making a list before shopping, comparing it to previous years and cutting back.
- Shopping locally to minimize packaging and transportation emissions.
- Cooking plant-based meals for lower impact and composting potential.
- Ditching single-use plates, cups and cutlery.
However, the biggest ways to avoid seasonal food waste is to compost, effectively giving back to the planet with nourishing nutrients to grow even more food. Composting reduces emissions, protects habitats and supports biodiversity while making use of what would otherwise become trash and greenhouse gases. Individuals and businesses obtain these benefits by constructing a compost setup and putting the nutrients back into the soil once it is finished forming. This also removes the need for pesticides and other toxic soil reinforcement techniques.
Households and companies of all shapes and sizes can compost in various ways. Start by collecting compost-approved food scraps in bins. Make them accessible so it is straightforward for other residents and employees to pick up the new habit.
Based on space availability, choose whether to use a hot or cold method based on resources and time. Composters can also set up a worm bin. With adequate ratios of water, carbon, air and nitrogen, decomposition begins until the mixture turns into compost. Corporations may partner with a third party to collect scraps to turn into compost.
What isn’t compostable should go to local food banks and charities to distribute to people with less.
Use Package-Free Parcels
The number of online orders people make increases packaging waste. Instead of throwing cardboard boxes, Bubble Wrap and packing peanuts into landfills, shop locally to purchase as many package-free items as possible. When wrapping, skip nonrecyclable wrapping paper and either give gifts naked or use sustainable options, like newspaper or brown paper.
Give Greener Gifts
Families don’t need to forgo gift-giving to be more eco-friendly. However, people need to make purchases more mindfully, and there are several ways to accomplish this.
First, if people want to minimize the number of physically purchased items that might end up in the trash or returned, they can purchase experiences instead. Concert tickets or throwing a friend a party are heartfelt options that replace a generic cosmetics set.
Another idea is to create rather than consume. If someone in the household is crafty, gifting them a crochet set, baking supplies or paints gives them a prime opportunity to engage in a hobby while making something personal for someone else. It uses already purchased resources and leads to something bespoke.
For those who still want to scratch that shopping itch, buying objects secondhand will be the most eco-friendly way to get consumer products. Around 67% of U.S. shoppers will consider the climate impact of a gift before buying it anyway, so go the thrifty route. Numerous apps and social media platforms enable this connectivity, even within a local range. Buy Nothing groups, Facebook Marketplace, Mercari and plenty of others are waiting with millions of items to rehome.
Double Decorate
Despite what craft stores and home furnishing outlets want families to think, many households don’t need new decorations every year. Trendy lampshades or smart lights aren’t necessary if homes use what they already have. Use decorations over and over again. If things feel stale, consider reaching out to neighbors and doing decoration exchanges to make things appear new and exciting without spending money and tossing out anything.
If families decide to compost, organic decorations are another option. Use carved pumpkins during Halloween and orange slices around Christmas. The items won’t go to landfills, and they add a bit of nature to the home when decorations tend to be more artificial.
Immobilize Impulses
When temperatures are too chilly to spend time outside, it’s normal to feel cooped up and bored or want to spend time with loved ones at the mall. Avoid these impulses to “buy now” or be exposed to holiday deals. It makes people buy things they don’t need or want.
People can combat this issue by staying home and distracting themselves with loved ones and hobbies that don’t revolve around shopping. Retail therapy may feel fun as the days get shorter, but it’s only a quick compulsive fix of something to do that may lead to trash in the end.
Educate Everyone
The holidays are a time for everyone to gather, so it’s the perfect time to set an example of sustainability for the people who matter most. Households can also talk openly about their changes to become less wasteful during the holidays, influencing others to do the same. Spread education with compassion.
Taking Out the Trash on Unsustainable Holiday Habits
The holidays are a chance to spend quality time with loved ones — not create tons of trash that leads to a warming climate. Many unsustainable holiday habits come from excessive shopping and generating needless waste.
Everyone can make a change as the seasons draw near. Even one sustainable behavior during the holidays can positively impact the planet’s health and the household’s budget.
About the Author
Evelyn Long is a writer and the editor-in-chief of Renovated. Her work has been published by NCCER, Build Magazine and other online publications.