fabrics used as gift wrapping

Over the course of the next month or so, millions across the globe will eagerly await to tear into their Hanukkah and Christmas presents. Each surprise gift will be mysteriously wrapped in holiday themed wrapping paper to illuminate the magic of the holidays. This paper is used for this one purpose then immediately thrown away. Every year in America, the amount of garbage that ends up in landfills increases by 25%, an extra 1 million tons of trash produced each week between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. One of the largest contributions to this increase of trash in landfills is the wrapping paper industry, which contributes 2.3 million pounds into the landfills every year (Fuller, 2022). This is an excessive amount of waste produced from a miniscule aspect of the major gift-giving holidays. There are many ways to wrap your gifts in reusable or compostable materials without spoiling the surprise or sacrificing style! 

  1. Fabric 

Wrapping paper is only used briefly before it is disposed of, so it could be feasibly replaced by things sourced from around the house. For example, fabric is an excellent substitute! Depending on the size of the gift, you could use any extra set of sheets to wrap up your gifts. Smaller items can be placed inside a pillow case with the remaining fabric folded or tied with ribbon. Larger items could be wrapped inside the sheets with the folds pinned in place to keep it attached. Fabric can be sourced from other places in your home as well; clothes also make a great replacement for wrapping paper! This method may be preferable to the sheets because it opens up a wider range of colors and patterns!

  1. Sourced containers and boxes 

Another great option to reduce waste from wrapping paper is to use empty boxes and containers you have at home. Cereal boxes, shipping boxes, and virtually any kind of cardboard box could be repurposed as a gift box, so long as it was originally opened properly. The outside material has the added benefit of allowing you to be creative with your design! Choosing a more sustainable wrapping method does not inherently mean sacrificing fun designs and color gifts! This method, along with many others on this last, allow you to be creative and add your own designs to the wrapping! Additionally, you use spare glass jars or tupperware to wrap your gift in. With this method, you will have to add in an opaque item either inside or outside the container to ensure that the gift is not visible. However, you do give the added bonus of a glass jar or tupperware on top of the gift itself! 

  1. Newspapers, magazines, and collages 

Possibly one of the most well known ways to be sustainable and save money is to pick up a local newspaper and wrap your gifts! This option is particularly beneficial because the pieces of paper are large and easy to fold over the objects. If you leave the paper plain or use natural inks, toss the paper into the compost when you are done with it! Magazines can also be used to wrap gifts, and at the end they can be reused or recycled. Lastly, you can add your own fun designs to your paper, making a collage out of the aforementioned papers and any others you may find! Preserve your collages to be reused years over, or recycle them when you’re done. 

Regardless, you may end up receiving wrapping paper from someone else, or you may have some left over from years prior to use. It is important to remember that wrapping paper is not inherently bad; if you unwrap your gifts carefully and save the paper, you can reuse it many times over! Otherwise, any paper that needs to be disposed of can potentially be recycled instead. Any wrapping paper that is strictly a waxy paper material, regardless of the design on it, can be recycled. The exceptions are with papers that have a lot of foil, glitter, or metallic materials on them (Fuller, 2022). The mixed materials become too difficult to separate, so they cannot effectively be recycled. If you’re unsure if your wrapping paper is recyclable, Kylie Fuller on the brightly.eco blog suggests trying the “scrunch test” where you scrunch a bit of the paper into a ball and see how it flattens out. If the ball stays in the scrunched shape, go ahead and toss it into the recycling. If, however, if the paper ball starts to loosen up and return to a flat shape, it would be best to landfill it. 

Wrapping paper is such a small part of the significance of these holidays, yet they are a huge contributor to landfills every year. These alternatives allow you to keep the fun, festive, holiday spirit sustainability! The alternatives are not limited to this list however; there are so many other options to explore, such as reusable gift bags, beeswax wraps– even a hollowed out book can be used to conceal a gift! Use your creativity this holiday season, make the wrapping part of the surprise, and reduce the waste that ends up in our landfills.

 

Fuller , K. (2022, October 21). Is wrapping paper recyclable? Here’s the truth. Brightly. https://brightly.eco/blog/is-wrapping-paper-recyclable