Holiday Season Tips and Service Updates

10 Tips for a Sustainable Holiday Season

The holidays are a time filled with gift shopping, gatherings and parties, and the inevitable cleanup that comes after. As you make plans for the season, we encourage you to practice the principles of reduce, reuse and recycle to make the holidays environmentally friendly.

Here are 10 tips you can follow for shopping green (or not shopping this year), making your get-together sustainable, and disposing of post-holiday waste:

• Rethink gifting for the holidays. You can get creative by gifting experiences such as travel, art classes and adventures instead of things that take up space or generate waste. In addition, you can tap into Arlington Public Library's Library of Things to borrow tools, games, puzzles and more, as well as The Shop makerspace for learning or doing large projects.
• Flatten and fold cardboard boxes from online orders for recycling. You can also recycle paper invoices and receipts—as long as they don’t have a stickered backing.
• Reuse plastic air pillows, bubble wrap or packing peanuts. You can typically drop off plastic packaging and bags at grocery stores or big-box retailers for recycling (search the Earth911 database for locations in Arlington). Packing peanuts can’t be recycled and should be tossed in the trash if not reused.
• Purchase rechargeable batteries for toys and electronics. Remember to dispose of batteries properly.
• Wrap gifts with newspaper, old maps, brown paper bags or even fabric instead of wrapping paper.
• Send digital gift cards, holiday cards and invitations to reduce waste. You can also purchase cards made from recycled paper to stay green.
• Use natural and organic decorations that are compostable, such as pinecones, wood and potted plants.
• Consider using an artificial Christmas tree to redecorate year after year. If you use a natural tree, recycle it after the holidays (read below for information about our annual Christmas Tree Collection).
• Reuse gift bags, boxes and drawstring pouches for future regifting.
• Do not recycle wrapping paper, gift bags or holiday cards if they have glitter, shiny or metallic elements, or sound devices (in the case of cards). Tissue paper, Mylar wrap, bows and ribbons also can’t be recycled and should go in the trash.

Find more tips in our Holiday Recycling Guide.