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Friday, December 1, 2017
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THE HOLIDAY season is when crass consumption and disposal are at its peak. What can be a sensible way of reducing the high volume of waste that is hauled to dumps?
Why not give typical household discards a new lease of life by “upcycling” them into holiday decorations? Upcycling is the conversion of discarded materials into something creative and useful. We reduce the environmental costs of our merry-making, including lessening the demand for virgin materials for new products to be manufactured. This will mean fewer trees cut and mountains mined, more energy saved and decreased amounts of pollutants emitted.
Imagine these: a Christmas lantern from consumed paper cups; a Snowman from used paper; a Christmas tree from candy wrappers.
It’s no secret that our society generates tons of extra waste during the festive weeks of shopping, partying and gift-giving. Upcycling will help lower our holiday spending and allow us to save hard-earned money for more essential family and personal needs.
Imagine further: A corrugated board Christmas tree covered with used gift wrappers and newspaper comic strips and adorned with decorations made of used buttons, CDs, softdrink crowns and snack packs; angels fashioned out of fabric conditioner plastic containers with old shirts for costumes and paper bags for wings; Santa Claus figures fashioned out of a corn starch canister, paper and plastic cups, roll-on deodorant and tetra packs; Christmas wreaths and other decorations using empty cans of juice, liver spread and canned tuna, egg trays, and plastic bottle lids.
There are countless ways of transforming our discards into functional and, yes, beautiful, things. We can go zero waste or darn close. In this era of climate change, we are called to be mindful of what we consume and what we throw away.
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