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Unwrapping Gifts: 6 Eco Friendly Tips

As you’re unwrapping gifts during a birthday celebration or the holidays, here are some tips to make it easier to reduce waste, reuse and recycle.

These strategies will also help you prevent Christmas clutter so your house stays cleaner this holiday season.

A person in a Santa hat holding five wrapped gifts.

How to Recycle Gift Wrapping

1. Before everyone dives into the gifts, tell your family that you want to be greener this year and ask them to use a little extra care in unwrapping presents. Designate a box or large bag for collecting the wrapping, and put it in an easily accessible place.

2. As presents are unwrapped, separate the recyclable wrapping paper from ribbons, mylar, plastic. Lay the paper flat and set it aside; later, you can go through it and decide what can be reused. You can roll paper that’s in good condition around a cardboard tube, secure it with a rubber band and save it for next year. Wrinkled paper can be smoothed out with an iron set on the lowest, non-steam setting (test a corner first). Damaged paper can be shredded for a pretty box filler in next year’s packages. Very damaged paper can be put in the recycling bin.

3. Gather up ribbons, gift bags, tags, boxes, mylar paper and tissue paper and lay them in a box so they don’t get squashed during the Christmas morning excitement. Later, you can go through them and see which ones can be stored for reuse.

4. Flatten the non-reusable boxes and cardboard packaging from toys and other gifts put them in the recycling bins.

5. Many toys are attached to the boxes with twisty ties; save those in a zip-lock bag to use in the kitchen and garden.

6. Some plastic packaging may not be recyclable; look for the recycle symbol and corresponding number on the packaging and check with your recycling company about which types of plastic it accepts.

To avoid dealing with gift wrap, you might enjoy sewing your own DIY gift bag or making your own wrapping paper.

For further reading, here are more holiday ideas you might enjoy:

One Family’s Real Simple Christmas
Can You Compost Poinsettias?
13 Creative Ways to Reuse Christmas Cards

Save for Later

A person in a Santa hat holding a stack of wrapped presents.

About Eliza Cross

Eliza Cross is the author of 17 books, including Small Bites and 101 Things To Do With Bacon. She shares ideas to simplify cooking, gardening, time and money. She is also the owner of Cross Media, Inc. and founder of the BENSA Bacon Lovers Society.

2 thoughts on “Unwrapping Gifts: 6 Eco Friendly Tips”

  1. i always aim for eco friendly stuffs because i want to help mother earth.`

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