During the holiday season, I feel horrible about wrapping my presents. Traditional wrapping paper is not only made from virgin wood pulp, it is also often not recyclable (check in your area to be sure!) From a tree, to wrapping your present, to a landfill. This is not something I want to support!
Since finding this out a little over one year ago, I have not bought any more wrapping paper. In our house, we exclusively re-use paper and bags from previous holidays, or wrap in plain white packaging paper that is recyclable. We also use cloth bags and reusable boxes to reduce our waste. When we run out of what we have, I plan to buy recycled wrapping paper. I found this interesting information on a website selling such paper:
Did you know? Recycling one ton of paper saves the equivalent of 17 trees, saves 4 barrels of oil, saves enough energy to power an average home for six months, saves 7,000 gallons of water, and keeps 60 pounds of pollutants out of the air. In fact, the EPA has found that making paper from recycled materials results in 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution than making paper from new materials. It’s a little more expensive to buy recycled wrapping paper initially, but a lot less expensive in terms of environmental impact, and worth every penny.
