Sustainable Holiday Gift Wrapping

by Ashley Morrison

The holidays are an exciting time of year, often met with gift-giving, food and time spent with friends, family and loved ones. This holiday season, we ask you to consider reducing your plastic consumption and opt for sustainably wrapped gifts.

According to Waste Reduction Week, 540, 000 tonnes of wrapping paper end up in the landfill after the holidays in Canada. That’s the equivalent to 4.5 CN Towers worth of gift wrap! While wrapping paper adds beautiful designs and a sense of holiday spirit to your gift giving, not all wrapping paper is recyclable. While some types of wrapping paper are recyclable, wrapping paper that is shiny, metallic, and sparkly are not, as they are composed of multi-layered or glue-coated materials. Opt for fabric, brown paper, or newspaper for an easy, reusable, sustainable swap to wrapping paper.

Wrapping beautiful presents is a lot of work, and we often use a bunch of tape, ribbons and bows to help us get that desired look. Unfortunately, even recyclable wrapping paper covered in excessive amounts of tape must be landfilled. Alternatively, use of natural twine is a great option to seal your gifts without the use of tape or ribbon. This is an easy to store material that can be reused each gift-giving season.

While giving aesthetically-pleasing gifts is fun, ribbons and bows are made of plastic-based materials that are not recyclable and can easily entangle wildlife if improperly disposed of. Swap your ribbons and bows for dried organics, such as oranges, cinnamon sticks, pinecones, greenery, and salt dough ornaments to add a personalized touch this holiday season. Not only do they look pretty and add some charm to your holiday gifts, but they also smell amazing too!

Sticker-based holiday gift tags are expensive and are non-recyclable. Customize your gifts using homemade gift tags from previous holiday cards, old books, maps, and recycled paper. These are simple and inexpensive to make and can be cut into any shape you desire.