How to waste less this holiday - Our Daily Green

Monday, December 3, 2012

How to waste less this holiday


Our Daily Green found a staggering statistic. We knew that the holiday season also tended to be one of throwing away, but we had no idea how much. According to a study from Stanford University:

Q: How much extra waste is created during the winter holiday season?

A: Americans throw away 25% more trash during the Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday period than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts to 25 million tons of garbage, or about 1 million extra tons per week!
If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet. If every American family wrapped just 3 presents in re-used materials, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. The 2.65 billion Christmas cards sold each year in the U.S. could fill a football field 10 stories high. If we each sent one card less, we’d save 50,000 cubic yards of paper.
Peanut Hotline
The Peanut Hotline has received national recognition
for environmental leadership.
Use Less Stuff (ULS) offers a great holiday checklist of tips to conserve over the season. One of our favorite tips was a way to recycle those pesky Styrofoam packaging peanuts. The Plastic Loose Fill Council offers a hotline for locations in every state where they can be dropped off.


The Peanut Hotline is America's most successful packaging reuse program. Consumers call the Hotline, 800-828-2214, or visit thier website, for the nearest location that accepts plastic loose fill, or packing peanuts, for reuse. The Hotline has referred close to a million consumers to local businesses that accept plastic loose fill for reuse. The Hotline refers thousands of individuals each month to local drop off sites for packing peanuts.


PEANUT HOTLINE MEMBER BENEFITS:

  • Bottom-line savings with donations of plastic loosefill.
  • Potential new customers come to your store.
  • Advertisement of your business to local callers 24 hours a day.
  • Unique public relations for serving as a local recycling site.
  • Goodwill with shoppers for offering this community service.




1 comment :

Unknown said...

What a great tip, Kim! Thanks! And, as always, thanks for what you do.