Most wrapping paper is not recyclable and many gifts can’t be returned. This is only the start of why many people consider Christmas to be the biggest waste-producing holiday around.
People are becoming more environmentally aware than ever and many are purchasing ethically sourced and locally made gifts as they search for ways to lower their carbon footprints. Such eco-friendly gifts are becoming more popular and have inspired another even more extreme approach to eliminating that footprint: zero-waste gifts.
Lenny Gallant is a reclaimed materials artist and owner of Birdmouse, a zero-waste art gallery and shop located in St. Georges, P.E.I. and says gift purchases of his zero-waste art pieces have soared around the holidays in the last few years. “What this offers is it’s repurposed, but it also holds meaning. It’s not waste — it’s whatever you want to make it,” he says.
A new mindset
The gallery sells tree ornaments and birdhouse pieces Gallant designs and crafts using repurposed wooden parts and piano keys from old pump organs. It’s an art he got into by accident when he said yes to one organ seven years ago. He has since disassembled and repurposed 37 more.
He reuses nearly 95 per cent of the organ in his art and thinks of crafting as a child with his parents — making art with buttons and other items around the house — as he builds his pieces, recalling how he was taught to make something from nothing. “It’s an item that holds a story you can’t get anywhere else — a true-to-itself gift,” says Gallant. “I think that’s why people love buying these things and something that’s helping them think waste-free.”
Think before giving
Halifax is home to a zero-waste-focused shop and cafe that is Nova Scotia’s first package-free bulk store. The Tare Shop is owned by Kate Pepler, who opened the store after discovering a lack of local waste-free options in Halifax. She sells package-free bulk food items and eco-friendly retail items that, if packaged, are sold in biodegradable packaging.
The Tare Shop also sells beeswax wraps, tea towels, reusable linen and cotton bags that Pepler says can all be used to wrap gifts in — “It’s like two gifts in one,” she says — secured with reusable materials like string or twine.
She says taking these steps is a good way to cut back on the waste produced around Christmas. She also says listening to those who say they don’t want a gift at all can be just as effective. “If someone says they don’t want anything or specifically asks for something, get them what they say. More meaningful and more memorable and less likely to get thrown out,” she says.
Living with less
Pepler says people are often surprised at how easy it can be to reduce or eliminate such waste and that items to help them get started are often lying about their homes.
“Use newspaper you’ve found or something you already have at your house, without going out to purchase new stuff. You can even decorate brown paper bags with stamps from potatoes or apples. There is a lot you can do with very little,” she says.
Gallant feels hopeful that people buying into the idea of eco-friendly or zero-waste gifts will be inspired to lead lower carbon-footprint lives. And once someone begins such a life for themselves, they might just pay it forward — something both Pepler and Gallant say they hope happens when such a gift is given at Christmas. “That’s the best-case scenario — that next Christmas they do that, too,” says Gallant.
This content originally appeared in TIDINGS, a SaltWire custom publishing title.
