Staying Sustainable during the Holiday Season
Sustainability Council Newsletter
Supporting Sustainable Brands
It is that time of year again with endless shopping for friends and family, and layering your clothes, shoes, jackets, and more! Although the festivities bring so much love and joy, it is important to keep in mind the long-lasting effects that our actions of buying, using, and throwing out can have on the Earth. So, this season, choose a more sustainable approach when buying gifts. To help you out, we have created a guide of sustainable brands, along with brands to avoid this year. Clothing brands like Patagonia, Reformation, and Girlfriend Collective all focus on sustainable and ethical practices in the fashion industry (Burkhardt). They create stylish clothing using sustainable materials and are known for their commitment to their environmental and social responsibility plans. Beauty and personal care brands such as Ethique, and Lush produce zero-waste beauty and personal care products that are cruelty-free with an emphasis on reducing packaging waste and helping our environment (Earth.Org). However, many brands face constant criticism for their environmental impact including fast fashion brands such as H&M and Forever 21 which generate immense amounts of waste (Igini). Fast fashion brands are those that overproduce clothing to meet the demand and constantly provide new streams of style, leading to excess waste when unsold items are discarded. To add, both H&M and Forever 21 promote labour practices with low wages and poor working conditions. This holiday season make the right choice, make the sustainable choice!
Reuse, Recycle and Donate
This holiday season, embrace a sustainable approach by making choices that minimize your environmental footprint. Discover strategies that resonate with your values, creating a more eco-friendly and joyful celebration for everyone involved. Ways to adopt a more sustainable holiday can be buying people gifts that last, opting for reusable gift bags over traditional wrapping paper, and choosing gifts with minimal plastic packaging. As for decorating your home, use items that you already own instead of buying new decorations each year, and skip non-biodegradable materials like tinsel when decorating your tree. Instead, try using reusable ribbons and ornaments. Businesses now offer reduced packaging options, which allows you to reduce your waste when ordering gifts. Another important strategy to consider is to donate your old clothing and belongings instead of throwing them away, supporting charities like Make-A-Wish and Salvation Army that help people in need, especially during the holidays. Do yourself and the environment a favour this holiday season by keeping it green!
In conclusion, do yourself and the environment a favour this holiday season by staying sustainable. Support sustainable brands such as Patagonia and Lush and reuse your holiday decorations or donate your old belongings!
5 Steps to making your Christmas more Sustainable
What to do with leftover wrapping paper, ribbons, and much more?
Did you know that about 365,000 km of wrapping paper is thrown away every year? That is about the distance from Earth to the Moon (“A Guide to Reducing Christmas Wrapping Paper Waste”). Now when there is wrapping paper all over your house during the holidays, how can you be more sustainable?
What you can do:
Step 1: Collect all your remaining materials including ribbons, wrapping paper, boxes and bags
Step 2: Make separate piles for each material (wrapping paper pile, ribbon pile, etc.)
Step 3: Dive into each pile to determine what is salvageable and what is not (i.e wrapping paper that has been ripped or tiny pieces of ribbon would not be salvageable).
Step 4: Now dispose of or find alternate uses for all your unsalvageable materials. An example could be to save the tiny ribbon to use in your hair.
Step 5: With the salvageable pile, store all of the materials that can be reused for next year in storage; somewhere in your room or a place you’ll remember by next year!
This will make your holiday season more sustainable, by disposing of less and saving more!