Here's the Eco-Cycle Holiday Guide:

Zero Waste Holiday Guide

How to reduce waste for a more sustainable holiday season

Reuse, Repair & Share

• Reusables as a Solution to Single-Use Disposables
• Repair Resources
• Reuse and Share Portal

Celebrate the Season More Sustainably

During the holiday season, household waste in the US surges by 25% or more, resulting in 1 million tons of trash flooding landfills weekly from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. This seasonal spike in waste is largely due to additional packaging, wrapping paper, bows and ribbons, and wasted food.

• Check out our Zero Waste holiday tips include waste reduction advice, green giving ideas, alternatives to wasteful wrapping paper, and more!

View or download the 2024 Zero Waste Holiday Guide! Eco-Cycle’s green holiday guide will help you enjoy a more meaningful, waste-free holiday season. For Boulder County residents: The Holiday Guide page 2 offers a quick guide to which holiday items are locally recyclable, where to recycle them, and special tree collection and recycling sites.

Y en español, para hispanohablantes: Cero Desperdicios Guía para las festividades. ¡Su guía para una temporada navideña con menos desperdicios y más significativa!

While celebrations spread holiday cheer, they can clash with the conservation values we hold so dear!

For a more sustainable celebration, consider taking these actions:

That’s a Wrap on Wrapping Paper: Traditional wrapping paper is composed of more clay and ash than it is paper fiber, making it difficult, if not impossible, to recycle! Avoid wrapping paper by using a festive-yet-sustainable alternative such as reusable gift bags and boxes, leftover fabric, or recyclable papers like kraft paper and newspaper!

What to Do with Packaging? Shopping locally not only supports your community’s businesses, it can help you avoid a lot of excess packaging—from cardboard boxes to foam packing peanuts to plastic mailers and “pillows”! If you are sending or receiving packages, reuse what you can—and check out your local recycling guidelines to see what can be diverted from landfills. In Boulder County, check out our Packaging & Mailers guidelines as well as our hard-to-recycle material guidelines for the Eco-Cycle CHaRM!