by Barbara Allen

Wrap It Up

Traditional wrapping paper produces a lot of waste and has usually been chemically bleached and colored. Here are a some interesting and creative alternatives, many from the Partners for Environmental Progress and The ULS Report.

· Get creative with gift-wrapping by wrapping presents in other presents. For example, wrap a new kitchen tool in a dishtowel or a cloth shopping bag.

· Wrap small gifts or gift certificates in a scarf, handkerchief or cloth napkins. This may encourage the use of cloth handkerchiefs and napkins instead of paper ones and will have the added advantage of working to save our old growth forests as well. A double duty wrapping!

· Kids can have fun wrapping presents in the comics pages from the Sunday newspaper or old magazines, calendars and maps.

· Instead of wrapping gifts for the kids, hide the presents, plant clues to where they’re hidden and turn the search into a treasure hunt.

· Try buying or making fabric gift bags. They can be made in all different sizes and make wrapping a breeze, simply bag and tie. The recipient can reuse the bag to wrap their own gifts! Or just wrap gifts in scraps of cloth leftover from sewing projects.

· Cloth grocery and carrying bags make excellent wrap, with a practical purpose for long after the holidays have ended. Add a colorful bow and voila!

· Wrap presents in reusable containers such as tins, gift bags, etc. Be sure to reuse boxes, bags and bows for future gifts.

· Kids’ art work is a perfect wrapping for presents to proud grandparents.

· Use brown paper grocery bags to wrap small-to-medium size boxes that have to be mailed. Use crayons to add some holly to the corners or add a colorful Christmas sticker or two.

· Make the wrap a part of the gift: Put cookies in a flower pot or hide jewelry in a new pair of gloves.

· When opening gifts, make it a game to open them in a way that the paper can be saved for future gift wrapping. Have someone be in charge of saving paper and someone in charge of saving the bows and ribbon. These can be used on birthday gifts all year long as well as next years holiday gifts. Keep a paper bag nearby for recyclable paper and cardboard.

· If you don’t want to give up traditional paper and cards this year, at least look for products made from recycled paper, with soy inks. Paper bags made from unbleached, recycled paper are sturdy enough to be reused.

· When wrapping gifts for your family use as little tape as possible – none, if you can manage it. Then opening gifts will be easier and less paper will be torn. Let children know that this activity is your small gift to the earth. Each time we Reduce, Recycle and Re-use we are helping the earth to be a better place for our children and their children. Remember that small actions really DO count.

Gifts that don’t need wrapping:

· Tickets to concerts, museums, or sporting events, gift certificates, house plants and garden plants, and gifts of your own time.

· Put just a bow on oversized gifts like a bike or stereo…

Did you know...if every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, the 38,000 miles of ribbon saved could tie a bow around the entire planet?

Green Party Guide

Parties are a wonderful way of sharing and enjoying the holidays with friends and family. But they also can be a major source of waste and unnecessary expense. Here are a few ideas for making them more earth and pocketbook-friendly. Many of these ideas are courtesy of Partners for Environmental Progress and The ULS Report.

· Turn down the heat before the guests arrive. You’ll save energy while the extra body heat of your guests will warm up the room.

· For formal affairs, consider renting seldom worn party clothes or buying them from consignment shops.

· Make your parties more elegant. Did you know that you can find great deals on plates, cups, and flatware at many local thrift stores, flea markets and garage sales? Instead of using disposables, why not pick up extra dishes and flatware that you can use for parties and picnics? You can have fun with pretty plates that are all different but the same color scheme- or buy interesting sets that work together.

· You can also rent dishes and glassware, making your party more elegant and eliminating the need to buy special holiday china.

· Walk to neighborhood parties, or carpool (with a designated driver!) with friends if it’s too far to walk.

· After the party, don’t throw away the leftovers! Put them in plastic containers or bags and send them home with guests, or donate to food banks.

· Plan meals wisely and practice portion control to minimize waste in the first place.

· Compost your food waste. Fruits and vegetables and their peels, pits and seeds are all perfect for composting – a great natural fertilizer and soil conditioner for our sandy soil.

Did you know...at least 28 billion pounds of edible food are wasted each year – or over 100 pounds per person. We could be turning some of those tons of food waste into compost to enrich our soil.
 

Snippets

The Horticulture students of the Walton County Vocational Technical School, under the leadership of instructor Linda Keegan, came together to form a Junior Garden Club this month. The Garden Club of DeFuniak Springs is sponsoring the group.

Several members of the Environmental Concerns group were given a tour of the Horticulture Department at the school last month and were very impressed by the work that is being done there. Students make their own potting soil and design and plant lovely, productive vegetable and flower gardens. They grow shrubs, trees, and houseplants from cuttings. Linda and the students are growing native wildflower plants from seed given to them by the Garden Club. The plants will be used this spring in garden club planting projects for the community. We are proud to be working with this enthusiastic and capable group.

Greening our businesses.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all the restaurants in the area switched to using recycled, unbleached paper napkins? Perhaps if you encouraged the owners of the places where you eat regularly to do this, they would take the plunge. Think of all the forests that would be saved and all the chemicals that would be kept out of our soil and water if restaurants across the country did this. Do we really need pure white napkins?

If you know of any business in the area that is using recycled paper or taking other positive steps to make less impact on the environment we would like to hear about it. We would be glad to give them a mention in our column. Give Barbara Allen a call at 892-3998 or email her at ballen@gdsys.net.

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This column comes to you courtesy of the Environmental Concerns Group of the DeFuniak Springs Garden Club.