An Eco-Friendly Holiday: All About Sustainable Wrapping
The festive season is approaching which means we’ll be producing a lot more waste -- specifically plastic waste will be at its peak. Despite being the most wonderful time of the year, it has become an occasion of overspending and excess of plastic material items both for packaging gifts and gifts themselves. Statistics have demonstrated that each year Canadians produce 540 000 tonnes of waste because of gift wrapping and shopping bags (Zero Waste Canada, 2017).
The biggest issue of gift packaging is that it is not recyclable due to the coating on the paper, which is frequently polished and laminated. Not to mention that they are made with mixed materials which makes it more difficult to recycle and more than often used once. Thus, gift wrapping goes straight to the landfill.
With the holidays coming up, let’s be kind to the environment by turning towards eco-friendly packaging. This being said, sustainable packaging has become more important than ever before. You might wonder why?
It is packaging itself which reduces its environmental impact, as sustainable packaging is capable of being recycled. Generally, this type of packaging takes into consideration the ingredients used, the production process and reusability (Forbes, 2020). Design is also an essential component in sustainable packaging, as it aims to transform product packaging into being less of a danger to the environment. For instance, the company EcoEnclose offers different types of packaging made with recycling content.
What are Sustainable Alternatives to Gift Wrapping?
There are several ways to wrap your gifts by keeping sustainability in mind, and here’s how:
A first alternative would be to opt for fabric as a gift wrapper or as commonly called, Furoshiki. This style of gift wrapping comes from Japanese traditional culture and was used to carry belongings (Smite, 2020).
Today, it proposes a variety of ideas which covers plenty of gift types and forms. All you need is a lovely cloth and a few packaging skills. It is a simple way to wrap your gifts without all the fuss of wasting tape and paper. Plus, it can be reused for other gifts.
Get creative with repurposed materials as it can be a great sustainable option for packaging. You can wrap presents with a funny article from a newspaper or old magazines based on the recipient’s interests. Other materials can be tissue paper, maps, kids artworks and more. This gives more meaning to the present rather than pack it in wasteful materials. Instead of using tape, use strings to wrap your gifts. It will not only be easier to put everything together but it will give a certain flair to it. However, if you want to use tape to wrap your gift, go for washi tape (Greenpeace, 2020).
Paper grocery bags can be given a second chance at life by transforming them into packaging. If you cut them and turn them inside out, it’s just like cardboard paper which makes it easy to use for new gift wrapping. You can simply paint them over to add decorative patterns.
Shopping for gifts with companies that use sustainable shipping packages is a great way to reduce your waste but you can also reuse the packaging for your own gift wrapping. The Swedish furniture retailer, Ikea, has recently started to use mushroom-based packaging for its products (Steffan, 2019). The material only takes 30 days to dissolve which means that it is fully compostable and organic. If you are able to keep it dry, you get bonus points as the package can be reused. Another company that uses sustainable shipping packages is the bookstore chain, Indigo. When buying gifts on their website, they ship their products in recycled cardboard boxes and the company removed its usage of plastic pouches in their packaging. The Japanese clothing brand, Uniqlo has also switched from single-use plastic bags to environmentally friendly paper bags and reusable cotton bags (Uniqlo, 2019). Both items can be used more than once and make the best of it by using it for gift wrapping.
The holiday season should not be a period of excess waste especially when it comes to packaging. By turning towards sustainability, we can make the most magical time of year into one that is zero waste and plastic-free.
What are your sustainable gift wrapping ideas? Let us know in the comments section
References:
Forbes, P. (2020). The Role of Sustainable Packaging in 2020. Packhelp. Retrieved from https://packhelp.com/sustainable-packaging/
Greenpeace. (2020). Never Buy Gift Paper Again: the Ultimate Guide to Zero Waste Wrapping. Greenpeace Canada. Retrieved from https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/story/27868/never-buy-gift-paper-again-the-ultimate-guide-to-zero-waste-wrapping/
Smite, E. (2020). 6 Affordable Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping Ideas to Try This Year. Printful. Retrieved from https://www.printful.com/blog/eco-friendly-gift-wrapping/
Steffan, A.D. (2019). Ikea Starts Using Compostable Mushroom-Based Packaging For Its Products. Intelligent Living. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/18K9nOGu1TADzFCxkSdRcT3FfhjOaaJD0zshUVydlCRY/edit
Uniqlo. (2019). Feature: Our Commitment to Reducing Single-Use Plastic. Uniqlo Sustainability. Retrieved from https://www.uniqlo.com/en/sustainability/planet/special/plastic01/
Zero Waste Canada. (2017). Zero Waste Christmas. Retrieved from https://zerowastecanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Zero-Waste-Christmas.pdf
