Post-Holiday Office, or Home Clean Up The Green Way

Begin the New Year by doing something for the environment, and take care of the post-holiday waste with an ecoconsciously.  It won’t take too much of your time, and some of the tips for old gift cards and wrapping paper may be fun projects ideas to take home to the family for the weekend.   

Give the Christmas Tree a Second Life

About 33 million trees are sold in the U.S. every year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  It’s important to keep live Christmas trees out of the dump where they biodegrade slowly because of low oxygen levels, says Leah Blunt in an article on Earth911.com.  Earth911’s Treecycle Program offers the nation’s largest, most comprehensive treecycling directory, with over 4,000 treecycling resources.   

 Make sure to remove all the tinsel, ornaments and garland before you recycle. 

  

Gift Wrap and Holiday Cards

Wrapping paper with non-paper additives, such as glitter, gloss and metallic coatings and with no tape remnants can usually be recycled, according to giftdecorating.com.  You can also check with the local recycling facility to see if they have giftwrap collection programs.   

From creating homemade gift tags, to next year’s holiday wreaths, Alexis Pertu from Earth911.com has listed in her article Reuse Ideas for Holiday Cards and Gift Wrap tons of creative ideas.  

Quick Tips

- If you received some new clothes for the holidays, consider donating the old attire to a charity.

- Recycle the cardboard boxes the gifts came in, or save them for future gifts

- Keep the hoiday décor for the following year.  If you absolutely have to get rid of it, give it to a school, non-profit or another office in town

- Don’t forget to recycle the holiday wreaths too.  Ehow.com has some quick step-by-step instructions for keeping the wreath out of the landfill.

- If you received new office supplies from EcoGreenOffice, or elsewhere this year, look for places where you can recycle or donate the old office supplies, furniture and equipment.  Local schools may be looking for new printers and monitors, for example, and many Staples and Best Buy stores accept a wide array of electronics for recycling drop off.  

If you we're lucky enough this holiday to receive a new printer, like the Prospect Pro205 Wireless All-in-One Printer pictured above, supplied through EcoGreenOffice, remember to look for places to recycle or donate the old equipment.