Every year, billions of people worldwide decorate their homes for the holidays. They’ll also use hundreds of thousands of miles’ worth of wrapping paper. Additionally, over 120 million trees will be cut down for holiday decorations, only to be discarded after a few weeks. The majority of these items end up in landfills. Fortunately, there are eco-friendly alternatives to tossing these items in the trash. Read on to discover some great ways to upcycle or reuse your holiday decorations to help the planet!
New Life for Old Trees
Most of us have seen sad, dead Christmas trees set out on the curb for garbage pickup. These beautiful trees were thriving just a few short weeks before, and were lovingly decorated for the holidays. Afterwards, they’re usually thrown into garbage trucks and hauled off to the dump. Here’s how to put them to good use instead:
Mulch
First and foremost, find out whether your city has a Christmas tree pickup service after the holidays. Many areas dedicate a fleet of trucks to pick up used trees to be transformed into mulch for city parks. If this isn’t available where you live, then you can use it in your own garden instead.
Cut off the branches and use them to protect your vulnerable plants from the snow and cold. Alternatively, you can strip off the needles and spread them around your garden. These will nourish the soil as they decompose, and deter rodents in the process.
Wildlife Feeder/Sanctuary
Keep the base on your tree and relocate it to your yard. Then decorate it with items that feed local wildlife, such as popcorn, nuts, and berries strung onto kitchen twine. You can also make your own seed ornaments with suet and birdseed, or by spreading a nut or seed butter onto pinecones, rolling them in seed, and then hanging them with string.
This option helps to provide shelter for wildlife while also offering vital nutrients during the hungry months.
Firewood and Fire Starters
Coniferous tree wood is excellent for starting fires, as it ignites easily and burns quickly. For this reason, the needles and twigs are ideal fire starters, provided that you use them responsibly. Trim the branches into pieces that are between six and ten inches long, and dry them in a cardboard box. Then, tie them into small bundles using cotton or jute twine. You can then use these to ignite kindling in your wood stove, fireplace, or outdoor fire pit.
Pine Needle Baskets
If you have a pine tree rather than a spruce or fir, strip the needles and let them dry out in a large cardboard box. Once they’ve dried out, you can use them to craft beautiful pine needle baskets. These are ideal for storing small trinkets, displaying fruit, keeping pantry ingredients corralled, and so on.
Learn how to make these needles with this easy tutorial.
Reuse Holiday Decorations in New Ways
If you find that the decorations you’ve been using for years no longer suit your home’s aesthetic (or your personal preferences), find new uses for them instead of throwing them away.
Use string lights to transform a child’s bedroom into a magical fairyland, or repaint figurines with different holiday colors. Decorate your garden with non-glass ornaments, and use those beautiful candles year-round. Additionally, you can surprise the kids with “Christmas in July”, complete with fancy plates and tasty dishes normally only served in December. Hold onto wrapping paper and gift bags to reuse throughout the year, or use them to line drawers around the house.
Don’t Discard: Donate
Before you throw anything away, ask yourself if someone else could benefit from using this item. If so, consider donating it to a local thrift shop or charity organization instead. Hospitals, elder care facilities, and countless other places often rely on donated items to brighten up their decor for the holidays. By donating these items, you don’t just keep things from clogging up landfills — you’re brightening people’s lives exponentially.
Choose more Eco-Friendly Options Next Year
Decorating for the holidays is something most of us look forward to every year. If we’d all like to do our part to protect the planet, we can choose more eco-friendly options in the future.
For example, we can rent living, potted trees to decorate instead of cutting any down. Similarly, we can used recycled wrapping paper, or wrap our gifts in fabric instead. Another great option is to pack up gifts in reusable cotton grocery bags, which is like getting two presents in one.
All of these small choices lead up to big changes, especially if we all do our part.
Featured image by Tessa Rampersad on Unsplash