By JOHN ROGERS
Sustainability Committee Chairman
Whether the holidays snuck up on you or you’ve been preparing for months, here are three ideas for making gift-giving impactful for family and friends while making them low-impact for people and the environment.
1. Think intangible. For some on your gift list, giving experiences instead of things — a home-cooked meal, tickets to a show, or a night of babysitting, say — can help create lasting memories with fewer negatives. (And for those home-cooked meals, maybe keep in mind that chicken and fish involve a lot less carbon pollution per pound than beef or pork.)
2. Think quality. When things seem like the way to go, paying a bit more for quality products can help the gifts stick around for longer, and keep them in use and out of the waste stream. (And if you’re ordering multiple gifts from sites like Amazon, bundle your orders and choose options like “wait and ship together” instead of the default “ship separately,” if you can, for fewer truck trips to your front door.)
3. Think about after – before! Most wrapping paper isn’t recyclable (the state’s RecycleSmartMA.org website says to trash it), so finding other ways to package things – reusable gift bags, for example – might be a good way to go. (Just remember that tissue paper isn’t recyclable either, but also that any cardboard involved in the gift definitely is!)
However you decide to gift, and otherwise celebrate, have a great holiday season! And keep an eye out for more sustainability tips in the new year.
Content for the Sustainability Corner is provided periodically to the Transcript by members of the town’s Sustainability Committee.