Like Fruitcakes, Excess Single Use Packaging is the Worst Thing About Christmas

At the risk of coming off terribly scrooge-like, I want to start off by saying that I'm very much pro-holiday season and pro-giving and pro-Christams cookies. And you know what? I'm also very much pro-commerce and pro-business, and fully appreciate that the holidays are a big part of the American economy, and that many people's jobs do, in fact, depend on it. My own day job is in eCommerce.

But that's not to say that we shouldn't consider ways to make the season of excess a little less excessive.  After all, from sea to shining sea, we generate 25% more waste during the holiday season from Thanksgiving through New Years, according to LA Times columnist David Lazarus. He estimates that we hack down at least 250,000 treees just for wrapping paper alone, and my friend Pablo Päster over at Treehugger puts the estimate at a much higher 30 million.  Either way, I'd like to call a "big number alert" and say that if the real number is anywhere in the middle, it's sad.

Also annoying about the amount of holiday waste is the extra 625,000 tons of plastic packaging, and the likewise huge number of cardboard boxes that Lazarus didn't mention in his lightning fast interview with Marketplace from American Public Media.

This is the twentieth century. We have put a man on the moon. We can treat multiple kinds of cancer. We can have wheels on our suitcases, for crying out loud. And yet, we can't figure out a more effecient way to send and ship merchandise without producing this much waste? I'm looking at you, Barnes and Noble.

 

You'll notice that I ordered a reusable bag, and then you'll also note the irony of the size of the box the amount of plastic packaging, and the apt message to "Please Recycle" emblazoned on the bag that I suppose kept my reusable bag from breaking while it was in transit. Because it is so fragile, and could have broken if not for this extra piece of single use plastic. 

If you still have some gift-wrapping to do, cut down on the waste by reusing the shipping box your item came in and getting creative. And don't forget! All sorts of bargain wrapping paper comes equipped with toxic inks that make it hard to recycle (and maybe dangerous to touch?).