Green Christmas

1
Green Christmas

• Ideas for a more ecological holiday season

2
Did you know that...

• each year, during the holidays, we produce
  millions of extra pounds of waste from the food
  wrappers, the drink containers, the gift wrapping
  paper, the Christmas cards and the Christmas
  trees?
• only 12 of this waste will end up getting
  recycled?
• only 20 of the Christmas trees, that will be
  decorated, will then be recycled?
• millions of trees are sacrificed for the
  production of the millions of greeting cards that
  get sent?

3
Ideas for...a greener Christmas

• This year lets try to reduce this huge volume of
  waste we create during the holidays

4
Christmas trees and ornaments

• If we are going to decorate a real tree, we can
  buy one with roots (in a pot) so that we can
  plant it in our yard after the holidays.
• Alternatively we can decorate an artificial tree
  which we can keep for many years.
• Or we can decorate a large indoor plant instead
  of a tree.
• The lights we are going to use for the tree
  should be low energy ones. We should light them
  only when necessary and not all the time.
• If we are going to buy ornaments, its better to
  buy ornaments that dont break or break down
  easily so we can use them for years.
• Its even better to make our own ornaments using
  old cards, nuts, dried flowers, pine conesand
  lots of imagination!

5
Cards

• We can buy greeting cards made of recycled paper.
  
• We can send our greetings using the internet
  (e-cards) or our cell phone.
• We can save the cards we receive so that we use
  them next year to make original ornaments.

6
Presents

• We should prefer to buy presents that are not
  heavily wrapped in plastic, carton and tape.
• If we buy presents that use batteries, its
  preferable that they are rechargeable batteries.
  
• Lets give an ecological present, for example a
  plant, a bicycle, a subscription, theater
  tickets, coupons and gift certificates.
• If we are going to buy toys, we should choose
  ones that dont break easily.
• Instead of ripping the wrapping paper from our
  presents, we should save it in order to wrap
  gifts next Christmas.
• We can use recycled paper to wrap our gifts.
• If we receive gifts that we dont want, we should
  give them to people who didnt receive any,
  offering them some joy at the same time.

7
Parties

• If we are going to have guests, its better not
  to use plastic plates and cups.
• After the party lets recycle the empty bottles
  and cans instead of putting them in the garbage.
  

8
We wish you a Merry Christmas!