Make a splash with less cash and trash this Christmas

Christmas may be the merriest season of all, but ’tis also the costliest  and probably the most stressful not only to shoppers but also to Mother Earth, so note our concerned environmentalists.

As you make your Christmas list, checking it twice, stop, look, and listen: “With the huge amounts of fossil fuel spent, greenhouse gas emitted, and trash created during the most festive time of the year, Christmas can be traumatic, instead of fun, for the climate and Mother Earth,” laments Roy Alvarez, president of the EcoWaste Coalition, a waste and pollution watchdog.

Now, even as we bask in the glow of this heartwarming season, we know that our planet is warming up. As we get caught up in the frenzy of the holidays (or is it holidaze?), EcoWaste Coalition’s “Climate Change Survival Guide” sends this friendly reminder: The extraction, transportation, processing, manufacturing, marketing, and advertising of products, and the disposal after their useful lives consume lots of energy and all result in greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet.

In plain and simple terms, every time we buy something, energy was used to produce that item and get it to us, using up earth’s finite resources and causing emissions every step of the way.

Alvarez notes, “We make the holiday pollution worse by our failure to embrace the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) as core practices in our personal, family and community lifestyles.”

He warns, “If we don’t watch our waste size over the joyous holidays, we’ll surely end up with another stinking garbage disposal crisis that can ruin the yuletide spirit.”

If I may add, we should all worry about our waste size and cut down on our trash just as we worry to death about our waist size and desperately cut down on our calorie intake.

Think about these gloomy statistics while you’re having fun this Christmas: Metro Manila’s garbage usually goes up by one-third or even double during the holidays due to the consumption binge. The metropolis, according to the Metro Manila Development Authority, produces some 6,000 metric tons of trash daily.

When the party’s over, you see garbage bins and bags overflowing with plastic, packaging materials, kitchen discards, and party leftovers all over the place  not just in your house but in the whole neighborhood! You can smell the stinking garbage on street corners a mile away, says the EcoWaste Coalition.

Yes, you can  you can have a splash with less cash and so much less trash this Christmas. Take a cue from this list of 30 practical earth- and budget friendly tips for the season put together by the EcoWaste Coalition. These tips are guaranteed to save you money and enrich your life. They can warm the heartstrings without busting your pursestrings.

“We hope these tips, which were suggested by our affiliates, would help our people in lessening the environmental impacts of our merry Christmas celebration and making it in harmony with faith, life, and nature,” says Alvarez.

Pre-shopping tips:

• Take stock of what you have. Check for things that can be repaired, reused, recycled or even re-gifted before buying new items.

• Write down all your holiday necessities and take this list when you shop to avoid impulsive purchases.

• Organize and plan your trips to the palengke, supermarkets or malls to reduce transportation costs as well as ease holiday traffic jams.

• Set a holiday budget and avoid straying from it; remember to save enough for post-December expenses.

• Look out for holiday sales to avail yourself of big discounts for stuff that you and your family truly need. Look for and support charity fairs.

Actual shopping tips:

• Bring your own bayong or reusable carry bags when you shop. Drop plastic bags, join the reusable bag bandwagon.

• Consider buying in bulk to cut on product cost as well as packaging waste.

• Pick products with the slightest packaging and avoid excessively packed items.

• Select products made of recycled materials and with the most recycled contents.

• Seek and buy goods that are durable and can be repaired, reused, recycled or passed on to other users.

• Patronize locally-produced stuff, support the local economy, and lessen greenhouse gas emissions.

• Save receipts in case you need to return defective goods and wrong sizes and requirements.

Alternative gift giving:

• Think about re-giving gifts that you may have obtained at one time but have not used.

• Look through your closet and give away clothes and accessories that your relatives and friends might have been admiring for sometime like a pretty scarf, a nice jacket, a cute bag, etc.

• Share books that have been read and stored in your shelf with friends who share the same interest.

• Write heartfelt messages to family and friends on recycled Christmas cards and include a photo or two you have of them.

• Cut up old Christmas cards and reuse them as gift tags.

• Send e-cards in lieu of paper cards. Personalize them with your own graphic designs or choice photos.

• Share your signature homemade goodies and dishes, especially from “secret” personal or family recipes.

• Cook noche buena dinners for street children or for families who do not have anything to eat on Christmas Eve.

• Tell your loved ones that instead of giving them gifts this year, you will make donations in their names to charities, orphanages, and environmental projects.

• Draw or paint creative stuff on flat and smooth stones to make paperweights, plain mugs to make pencil holder or bayong or katsa bag to make your shopping bags more sosyal.

• Choose gifts that come with little or no packaging at all such as gift certificates, movie or concert tickets, bus or train passes, raffle coupons, etc.

• Don’t wrap gifts. If wrapping is really needed, try old magazines or newspapers, discarded bandannas or fabric scraps.  You can also use craft paper and jazz it up with colored pencils.

• Give gifts that grow and restore the environment such as plant and flower seeds or bulbs, kitchen herbs or tree saplings.

• If you feel that you absolutely have to buy something, patronize local products such as handicrafts made by indigenous and rural communities, jail detainees and the urban poor; non-toxic personal care items, organic products from health and wellness groups; reusable bags from women’s and environmental groups; and other gift items from charities and cooperatives.

• Buy simple notebooks, cover them with attractive used fabrics and write inspirational verses or excerpts from poems and songs at the bottom of every 15th page.

• When giving toys, choose the ones that are free of choking, laceration, and toxic hazards, age-appropriate and properly labeled.

• Shun replica guns and other war toys. Go for toys that promote creativity, non-aggressive behavior, and social harmony.

• Gift your barangay by leading or getting involved in a neighborhood project that will serve the poor or preserve the community environment.

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