MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – ‘Tis the season! It’s the happiest time of the year, but also the trashiest.
One study from Stanford University found that Americans create 25% more waste in the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s than at any other time.
“Every day Miami-Dade County residents generate 9 pounds of trash per capita,” Dave Doebler, the co-founder of Volunteer Clean-Up, explained. “The average is 4½ pounds of trash in the United States, and it’s even less around the world.”
But going green for the holidays doesn’t mean being a Grinch.
“We can generate incredible amounts of waste during this particular time of year…and we don’t have to,” noted Debris Free Oceans Program Director Maddie Kauffman.
So how can you be merry and mindful of your environmental impact?
Decorations
If you’d like to deck the halls with planet Earth in mind, Debris Free Oceans recommends getting crafty.
The Don’t Trash Our Treasure team met with members of the non-profit at KB’s Real Christmas Trees lot in Miami, where they showed off some examples of ornaments made from recycled materials.
“This is an ornament of our lovely Mr. Grinch, and it’s actually made from the base of a Christmas tree stump,” Kauffman showed Local 10.
But there was no shortage of crafty eco-innovations, including snowman ornaments cleverly made out of burnt out lightbulbs.
In addition to recycled and crafted ornaments, Kauffman also suggested using vintage or thrifted ornaments.
“We love high quality long lasting decorations. And these can get passed down through your family and hold sentimental value,” she said.
When setting the holiday table, Debris Free Oceans Program Manager Bonnie Waxman suggested steer clear of reusable plastic.
“Single use plastic cutlery and plates are one of the top things that fill our landfills and we’re running out of landfill space,” she said. “At this point, we’ve got nearly at capacity in Miami Dade, so it makes a big difference.”
Gifts
Sustainability was the spirit at the second annual EcoFest held at the Normandy Fountain in the North Beach neighborhood of Miami Beach on Sunday.
Community members who attended had the opportunity to shop local sustainable vendors curated by event organizers Clean Miami Beach.
“I wanted to give a place for sustainable vendors that make great products that are good for the Earth an opportunity to sell their products, because not every gift needs to come from Amazon,” the executive director of the organization explained.
Shopping local not only reduces your carbon footprint, but it’s also about supporting neighborhood businesses.
One of the vendors at the event was Hialeah-based Mita eyewear, a company that uses recycled materials to create glasses that are good for the planet.
“We try to give plastic a second life in a fashionable way, and this is what MITA stands for,” CEO Fabio Ferracane explained.
If you are looking for a zero-waste gifting option, Bonnie Waxman from Debris Free Oceans suggested gifting an experience, membership, or donation to a charity in someone’s honor.
“We live in Miami where there’s no shortage of amazing experiences. We’ve got a great museum lineup and then we’ve got our national parks,” she said. “These are amazing experiences that you get to take part in with the people you love.”
Recycling Right
If you opted for online gift shopping, you may be stumped about what to do with your leftover cardboard packaging. The answer is: recycle it!
According to Waste Management, most cardboard packages are recyclable and can be repurposed several times without impacting durability.
This is as long as they don’t contain liners, wax, or in the case of pizza boxes – leftovers.
“Oh man, we need cardboard,” Waste Management Community Affairs Manager Dawn McCormick emphasized. “We want it flat like this and none of the material inside. With none of the packaging.”
And as for your natural Christmas trees, odds are your city is already recycling them.
“Once a tree is recycled, a lot of communities make the mulch available to local residents,” Kevin Burns of KB’s Real Christmas Trees explained.
In Broward County, the free Chip-a-Tree program begins the day after Christmas and runs through Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Residents can bring these clean, decoration free trees to drop-off locations at parks throughout the county.
Miami-Dade County also offers free drop-off options, in addition to a curbside pickup beginning Jan. 10.
Remember to remove all the ornaments and the stand before you bring that tree out to the curb.
“If it has a stand, it’s gonna go into a separate pile… and it’s going to end up in the landfill,” Burns said.
Don’t forget to remove the lights from the tree as well.
If your lights are in good condition, you can save them for next year. But if they don’t work anymore, throw them in the trash. Dawn McCormick from Waste Management told Local 10 that although many people try to recycle Christmas tree lights, they are not recyclable.
“We call them tanglers. They get tangled up in our machinery,” McCormick added.
If you are in doubt about your Christmas recycling, Waste Management provides a guide for properly disposing of holiday items.
So deck the halls, make merry with your loved ones, but remember to be kind to our shared backyard.
Happy Holidays from Don’t Trash Our Treasure!