Don't forget to keep the environment safe this holiday season, too. The Pennsylvania Resources Council (PRC) said between Thanksgiving and New Year''s, Americans throw away 25 percent more trash than any other time of year.
"This season, we encourage people to think creatively when purchasing, shipping and presenting gifts," said PRC Executive Director Patricia Imperato. "When you shop and give in an environmentally friendly way, you''re giving an extra gift to our fragile ecosystem by conserving our resources."
Here are PRC''s tips for making this holiday as non-wasteful and as environmentally safe as possible:
- When shopping, bring along your own reusable bags, whether paper, plastic or canvas.
- Recycle the Sunday comics, color calendar pages, magazine images and old posters as wrapping paper.
- If you send holiday cards, consider e-greetings. By sending cards on the web, you''ve used no paper at all, yet kept your holiday greeting tradition.
- Reuse packing boxes and shipping materials such as plastic peanuts, wood shavings and bubble wrap.
- Take crushed or crumpled cardboard boxes and scraps to your local recycling center.
- Purchase live Christmas trees that can be replanted after the holidays or buy green Christmas trees and recycle them. Flocked trees cannot be recycled.
by Virginia Sutcliffe