The holiday season is coming up right around the corner, along with all the joy, the holidays also bring on a large amount of waste.  “The average American produces 5 pounds of trash per day, or 35 pounds each week. During the holidays, that rises to 6.25 pounds per person per day, or 43.75 pounds each week.” There are many ways to reduce the amount of holiday waste. Here are four things to keep in mind:

1-Buy your gifts in person

Buying online is extremely wasteful due to all the packaging it takes to ship the item to one’s house. If your only option is online ordering, you can buy from minimal packaging companies! They use very little packaging and all recyclable packaging as well.

2-Wrap with newspaper

Wrapping with alternatives such as newspapers is such a good way to reduce holiday waste. It’s recycled and cute!

3-Only buy what you need (and plan that in advance)

Make a detailed plan of what you will be making, what you currently have, and what you really need before you go grocery shopping. In this manner, you can reduce the amount of food waste by not purchasing excess items. If by chance you do end up with excess, donate it! So your leftover food does not wind up in the landfill and you get to help out others in need!

4-Get a live tree rather than a plastic one

This helps to avoid the extra production and plastic. Be sure to compost the tree once the holidays are over!