As the holiday season comes to a close, we want to give thanks for all of the great feedback on our Tips for Greener Holidays series of blog posts. If everyone was taking the steps our readers are, we’d make a huge dent in that stat about North Americans producing 25% more waste during this time of year. It’s so wonderful to know, judging by your comments, that our customers are so environmentally conscious!Now, we’ve talked about pre-cycling opens in a new tab, party planning opens in a new tab, holiday cards opens in a new tab, holiday lights opens in a new tab, Christmas trees opens in a new tab and wrapping opens in a new tab already. If you have implemented some of these tips, you may not have a giant mess to clean up!Here are a few simple things you can do to green up your clean up:
Compost your real tree and reuse your artificial tree.
Recycle (or store for reuse) your holiday cards and gift-wrap.
Use rechargeable batteries instead of regular ones. I know that they can be problematic at times – if you don’t charge them right before using them, they can slowly lose their charge and not work when you need them. Plan ahead!
For regular batteries, please recycle them instead of letting them end up in the landfill. You can find info on how and where to recycle at earth911.com opens in a new tab.
Did you get a new computer or other electronic equipment? Donate your old stuff! Here in Central Texas, Goodwill has a great program where they take all electronic equipment and try to reuse it…and if they can’t, they recycle it. Who does this in your city? Computers With Causes opens in a new tab looks like a really good resource.
How many of you got new phones? If you’re ready to recycle your old phone, PDA, cell phone batteries, chargers, or other accessories -- the Environmental Protection Agency opens in a new tab website has a special section all about recycling these items. Don’t forget to double check that your personal data is cleared from the phone before you recycle it!
Did you get a gift card? After you use it, don’t throw it away. Bring it to any Whole Foods Market and we will recycle it for you! (Learn about our recycled gift cards opens in a new tab).
Okay, I know you all have green ideas too. What other suggestions do you have to help us all clean up the after-holiday mess?
