Tips for Waste-Free Holidays

Got an email from my town encouraging residents to “reduce, reuse and recycle” during the holiday season. Perhaps you’ll find these tips useful.

“During the holidays, there are many actions besides recycling that we can take to minimize the amount of waste we create,” said Freeholder Rick Fontana, solid waste and recycling liaison. “These gift ideas and simple tips will help you conserve resources, minimize ‘the mess’ and save you money too. They might also give you a gift idea for that hard-to-shop-for person.”

“Green” Gift Ideas:

• Tickets: theatre, dance, concert, comedy, sports events
• Season passes: sports and entertainment venues
• Memberships: gym, organization, books or magazines
• Lessons: cooking, music, dancing
• Gift Certificates: restaurant, car wash, spa, bed & breakfast
• Services: housecleaning, yard work, car washing
• Charities: Donating money in the recipient’s name is doubly rewarding. Contributions to nonprofit organizations often are tax deductible and the charities benefit too.

Reduce Waste

• Purchase products with little or no packaging
• Send electronic holiday cards
• Reuse gift wrap or gift bags
• Make the packaging part of the gift (wrap in a table cloth, dish towel, an article of clothing or a reusable tote bag).

These are pretty good suggestions. But I disagree with sending electronic holiday cards. First off, they’re really a lazy way of communicating. (Take ten minutes and write a personal letter.) Also, while some service providers are reputable, I caution my family to never open e-cards because they are a common way of spreading malicious code that infect PCs.

Eel-powered Christmas Tree

Originally found this on Reuters. An aquarium in Japan is featuring an electric eel that’s powering the lights on a Christmas tree.

Scored at the Holiday Party

I attended our company party yesterday. Same restaurant as last year. Much more sedate this time around.

We used to do Secret Santa. I flippin hate that. But the last two years someone livened it up and made it more like the first Chrismas Party episode of NBC’s The Office. Everyone brings a $20 gift, stands around, and responds to random questions that cause you to exchange gifts.

Last year the two gifts most folks kept trading for were bottles of wine. When the dust settles, I scored a travel thermos. (But I do use it!)

So this year I surfed over to watch Gary Vanerchuk at WineLibrary TV to help me select a decent wine under $20 to contribute. Then used my man-skills to decorate the bottles with ribbons. My strategy was to keep trading to get it back.

At the gift exchange, the questions range from sublime to near scandalous. But now I know who has body piercings, been arrested, had one night stands and wears a thong to work. I’ll file that info away in my PDA for future reference.

Gift cards, rum, teas and powdered chocolate all passed around me. There were a few tense moments as a black heavily sequined messenger bag got too close for comfort. But when all was done, I scored a DVD 3-pack of Groundhog Day/Ghostbusters/Stripes. Freakin’ sweet! And “that’s a fact, jack!”

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