If you'd like to celebrate the holidays at home in an eco-friendly manner, then you can start with these 6 simple tips.
I know a lot of people have been environmentally conscious over the last
few years. It’s encouraging to know that all the information campaign over
traditional media as well as social media have led to a lot of people
choosing products and making lifestyle changes that are eco-friendlier. The
COVID-19 pandemic had us cooped up at home, hence it has effectively
lessened fuel consumption as well as solid waste in the office and
commercial establishments. However, it has also resulted to the
increase in plastic packaging
from items that are being delivered such as food and other essential
products. And that’s not counting all the medical wastes that have soared in
volume during this pandemic.
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| Photo by Alena Koval from Pexels |
7 Easy Ways To Achieve An Eco-Friendly Holiday Celebration At Home
Doing our part in taking care of the environment
As we keep our household safe and healthy during this time, it’s also a nice
gesture to do our part in keeping our environment healthy. What’s more,
Christmas is coming so there will surely be celebrations here and there.
Again, that will lead to a spike in wastes from households so it’s good if we
can all make wise choices.
Time to unleash your creativity
Some of you might say that it’s more convenient to go for options that are
more common and popular. An example of this would be to go for disposable
table utensils to save on time and effort in cleaning these items.
Instead of
using single-use products, choose those that are reusable. Put your creativity
to work and come up with options that are both exciting and non-damaging to
our ecosystem.
You can even come up with ways to create eco-friendly gifts that you can give
out to your loved ones or send to your friends; your creativity is your limit.
Eco-friendly options for the holidays
I always try to go for environmentally-friendly choices at home in any given
day. Although I do admit that it’s a challenging effort, especially since most
product packaging are made of plastic, it can still be done little by little.
Here are some ways that we do it at home:
1. Make handmade Christmas decors out of paper
A great way to bond with your family is to make your own Christmas decors.
What I do miss is making Christmas lanterns or parol the traditional way. We
used to make parol out of bamboo sticks, strings, glue, and colored paper.
It’s a lot of fun and it’s really satisfying when you get to create something
beautiful out of simple materials with your own hands.
2. Don’t use disposable plastic cups
I grew up using disposable plastic cups during celebrations at home because
it’s more convenient to just dispose of the used cups instead of washing cups
over and over again. We didn’t know much better back then but as soon as we
realized the impact of plastic waste to the environment, we just went for the
regular glass cups.
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| McDonald's Coca-Cola Aluminum Cups |
Just recently, I’ve heard that McDonald’s Philippines has brought back its
Coca-Cola collectible cups. I’ve always loved buying Coca-Cola glasses from
McDonald’s but this time, the fast food giant is offering aluminum cups that
come in 6 festive colors.
This edition of the Coca-Cola Aluminum Cup Collection is the first to be made
out of aluminum. I honestly like these metal cups more than the glass ones
because they’re non-breakable, making them an even better option for your
celebration. The new cups also look sleek and would definitely appeal even to
the younger generation.
The Coca-Cola aluminum cups come in 6 metallic-like colors namely red, yellow,
green, blue, purple, and pink. To get these cups, just add P49 to any
participating McDonald’s meals, which is practically almost all of your
favorite meals that come with a Coke drink.
These collectible cups will be available in McDonald's stores nationwide
through dine in, take out, drive-thru, and McDelivery.
3. Use eco bags when buying your groceries
We like the convenience of using eco bags when buying our groceries. They’re
sturdy and comfortable to hold even if the contents are heavy. If you are
regular users of eco bags, which is most of the people that I observe in
supermarkets, then just continue to do so.
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| Photo by ready made from Pexels |
I’m sure you’d be buying more supplies this holiday season for your Noche
Buena celebration at home but you can still make wise choices for your grocery
packaging like boxes and bigger reusable bags.
4. Opt for aluminum food trays instead of plastic trays
We’ve been ordering food and party trays since the pandemic began. It’s a
convenient and affordable option because we wouldn’t have to bother with
shopping the ingredients, cooking the food, and transferring it to a serving
plate. With food trays, we just remove the lid and serve the food right away.
However, I noticed that all the plastic trays have piled up in our kitchen
that’s why we began to choose food suppliers that used aluminum trays. It’s
not really a challenging move because most suppliers use aluminum trays or
even bilao (woven bamboo trays).
5. Reuse plastic food trays
if you’ve accumulated plastic food trays from your previous deliveries, don’t
discard them because you can use them. You can re-purpose them as storage boxes
for leftover food or other materials at home.
6. Give sustainable products as gifts
What I like about many companies these days is that they have started to make
eco-friendly products. it’s good if we can also support these companies and
buy sustainable products as gifts. A good example would be shampoo bars and
conditioners that are made of eco-friendly ingredients and are packaged in
paper wrappers instead of plastic bottles.
7. Use old newspapers and magazines as gift wrappers
I’ve always loved giving simple personalized gifts and putting a twist to
these by wrapping them in old newspapers and magazines. I also like to make
hand-drawn gift cards which I think looked better than the commercial ones
bought in stores.
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| Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels |
My intention for doing that is that I wanted the presents
that I was giving out to look unique and memorable. it was only later on that
I realized that it’s an eco-friendly option and a wise choice.
Epilogue
So these are simple ways on how we celebrate the holidays at home in an
eco-friendly manner. Again, these are little things that we can do at home but
can create a big impact if we do them collectively and repeatedly.
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| Photo by Sarah Chai from Pexels |
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So colourful and fun to see ! What an innovative and creative.. for the environment
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