By Pamela Tudge
The holiday season has a waste problem.
On average, each Canadian produces 720 kilograms of municipal waste—more than the per capita output in the U.S. and double what is produced in Japan. And over the holidays, our waste volumes double.
Think about it: We're each throwing out several additional kilos of holiday food, plastic packaging, foil wrapping and household goods each day.
Reducing waste this holiday season requires a whole new approach, a complete redesign of how we plan and celebrate this time of year.
Design can help us create a different future—and a new way of thinking about the holidays that takes aim at the way we consume day-to-day.
Take Back the Tinsel
Waste management costs Canadian taxpayers several billion dollars each year. During the holidays, we are paying to buy new stuff and then paying some more to take away the castoffs and detritus of Christmas.
We're not even doing it right. Municipal employees have indicated that consumers don't know how to deal with shiny, crinkly Christmas stuff that's not part of everyday recycling. Tree ornaments, gift wrapping and the unwanted Elves on the Shelves wind up in the wrong bins.
According to the Recycling Council of British Columbia, an estimated 545,000 tonnes of waste is generated in Canada from gift-wrapping and shopping bags alone. It estimates that if each Canadian family simply cut down on their waste by just one kilogram for the two-week holiday, 34,000 tonnes of garbage would be eliminated.
Food Fright
We also tend to overbuy, bake and cook over the holidays. What doesn't get eaten winds up in the trash—or the green bin if your municipality supports a composting program. In Canada, we throw out $31 billion in food per year. While a good portion of that comes from restaurants and grocery stores, 47 percent of food waste it generated by consumers.
Following the holiday break, municipal waste authorities describe finding whole turkeys in the garbage, large amounts of baked goods and mountains of leftovers from holiday parties.
If all the extra organic refuse is not diverted or captured, it winds up in a landfill where it produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is far more potent than carbon dioxide.
We're not just throwing away food, but also money. In its most recent food waste report, Value Chain Management International estimates that the value of our food waste is "higher than the combined GDP of the 29 poorest countries."
The waste numbers are alarming, not only because they are huge but because they are unnecessary. Yet they're a direct consequence of our consumer lifestyles where the preference is for new things, especially at Christmas.
Redesign the Holidays
To change our waste, we need to celebrate the holidays with an entirely new approach.
Thinking with design challenges us to create new directions by transforming our understanding of the materials around us. Redesigning our holidays can reduce waste, but most importantly, the action can help us make sense of how these substances—turkey, paper, tinsel and bows—act in the world.
The best way to begin redesigning the holidays is to prepare to do a waste audit. An audit takes into account all of the waste generated by a specific event, such as a holiday dinner party.
The objective of a waste audit is to assess the volume and types of materials ending up in the garbage such as plastics, textiles and hazardous wastes, including batteries. Some municipalities have seasonal tips and information to help, such as Metro Vancouver's campaign to Create Memories Not Garbage.
Redesign your holiday dinner menu so that it generates zero food waste. Cook with recipes that use food waste and make it tasty. Brew a winter tea with fruit peels, make a soup from vegetable scraps or bake a pudding from leftover party bread.
There are many recipes on the internet, old ideas that previous generations knew well.
Redesign gift giving. Again, this requires attention to the materials you use to keep your gifts under wraps until the big reveal. Gift wrap in the garbage can be completely eliminated by doing a few simple things.
Re-use paper or newspapers that you decorate yourself, or give the gift in a holiday cloth bag that can be re-used for several years. They're easy to make yourself, or pick one up at a local Christmas fair.
If you must use new gift wrap, opt for paper (not foils) and avoid the plastic bows, ribbons and foil to make recycling easy.
Beyond the wrapping, what about the package?
Aim to buy gifts that have no packaging or packaging that can be recycled by your community. Before you buy, look at the recycling numbers.
You can also reduce your shopping time and money spent by making gifts at home. Fill mason jars with your favorite cookie jar mix or other food from local farmers and businesses.
Finally, when you are out shopping, resist the holiday disposable cup, an especially problematic piece of waste that is only a moment in use but hard to recycle with its mixed plastic and paper.
Holiday customs have changed over the decades and vary from household to household. However, at this time in our history, reducing waste must become a new tradition. A shift in our holiday traditions to place greater value on materials would make our ancestors proud and future generations thankful.
Reposted with permission from our media associate The Conversation.
- 5 Ways to Have a Green Christmas (and Help the Planet) ›
- How to Have Yourself a Plastic-Free Christmas ›
- The Fight Against Food Waste Starts at Home - EcoWatch ›
Here are three new films to watch this Earth Week that will transport you from pole to pole and introduce you to the scientists and activists working to save our shared home.
1. The Year Earth Changed
Where to Watch: Apple TV+
When to Watch: From April 16
The coronavirus pandemic has brought home the stakes of humanity's impact on the environment. But the lockdowns also proved how quickly nature can recover when humans give it the space. Birds sang in empty cities, whales surfaced in Glacier Bay and capybara roamed the South American suburbs.
The Year Earth Changed captures this unique year with footage from more than 30 lockdowned cities between May 2020 to January 2021. Narrated by renowned wildlife broadcaster David Attenborough, the film explores what positive lessons we can take from the experience of a quieter, less trafficked world.
"What the film shows is that the natural world can bounce back remarkably quickly when we take a step back and reduce our impact as we did during lockdown," executive producer Alice Keens-Soper of BBC Studios Natural History Unit told EcoWatch. "If we are willing to make even small changes to our habits, the natural world can flourish. We need to learn how to co-exist with nature and understand that we are not separate from it- for example if we closed some of our beaches at for a few weeks during the turtle breeding we see that it can make a huge difference to their success. There are many ways that we can adapt our behavior to allow the natural world to thrive as it did in lockdown."
2. After Antarctica
Where to Watch: San Francisco International Film Festival
When to Watch: 12 a.m. PST April 9 to 11:59 p.m. April 18
In 1989, Will Steger led an international team of six scientists and explorers to be the first humans to cross Antarctica by dogsled. Steger and his team weren't just in it for the adventure. They also wanted to draw attention to the ways in which the climate crisis was already transforming the icy continent and to rally support for the renewal of the Antarctic Treaty, which would keep the continent safe from extractive industries.
In After Antarctica, award-winning filmmaker Tasha Van Zandt follows Steger 30 years later as he travels the Arctic this time, reflecting on his original journey and once again bringing awareness to changes in a polar landscape. The film intersperses this contemporary journey with footage from the original expedition, some of which has never been seen before.
"Will's life journey as an explorer and climate activist has led him not only to see more of the polar world than anyone else alive today, but to being an eyewitness to the changes occurring across both poles," Van Zandt told EcoWatch. "But now, these changes are happening in all of our own backyards and we have all become eyewitnesses. Through my journey with Will, I have learned that although we cannot always control change, we can change our response. I feel strongly that this is a message that resonates when we look at the current state of the world, as we each have power and control over how we choose to respond to hardships, and we all have the power to unite with others through collective action around a common goal."
After Antarctica is available to stream once you purchase a ticket to the San Francisco International Film Festival. If you miss it this weekend, it will screen again at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival from May 13 to May 23.
Tasha Van Zandt
3. The Race to Save the World
Where to Watch: Virtual Cinema
When to Watch: From Earth Day, April 22
While many films about the climate crisis seek to raise awareness about the extent of the problem, The Race to Save the World focuses on the people who are trying to stop it. The film tells the story of climate activists ranging from 15-year-old Aji to 72-year-old Miriam who are working to create a sustainable future. It follows them from the streets to the courtroom to their homes, and explores the impact of their advocacy on their personal lives and relationships.
Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker Joe Gantz told EcoWatch that he wanted to make a film about climate change, but did not want to depress viewers with overwhelming statistics. Instead, he chose to inspire them by sharing the stories of people trying to make a difference.
"Unless millions of people take to the streets and make their voices heard for a livable future, the politicians are not going to get on board to help make the changes needed for a sustainable future," Gantz told Ecowatch. "I think that The Race To Save The World will energize and inspire people to take action so that future generations, as well as the plants, animals and ecosystems, can survive and thrive on this planet."
Check back with EcoWatch on the morning of Earth Day for a special preview of this inspiring film!