Looking for some great ideas on how to make your holidays green and to reduce waste?

Here are some tips from Robert Lilienfeld and Dr. William Rathje, authors of the book: Use Less Stuff: Environmental Solutions for Who We Really Are.

1) If you are going to exchange gifts with wrapping paper and bows, recycle and reuse the paper for the next holiday season. If every family reused just two feet of holiday ribbon, it would save enough ribbon to tie a bow around our planet!

2) Instead of wrapping gifts, hide them, plant clues to where they’re hidden and have a fun family treasure hunt.

3) Going holiday shopping? Don’t forget to bring your own shopping bags. Paper, plastic and cloth are all good; the latter two can be folded easily into purses and pockets until used.

4) Send e-cards. More than 2.5 billion paper holiday cards are sold each year in the U.S. That’s enough to fill a football field 10 stories high!

5) Shopping by mail order catalogue? Don’t forget to cancel the ones you don’t need. Did you know that the average U.S. household receives 142 mail order catalogues? By just canceling 10 catalogues per household, we would save the equivalent of a 2000-mile high stack of catalogues!

6) Driving to the mall? Plan ahead and consolidate trips. If each family reduced holiday gasoline consumption by one gallon, equivalent to about 20 miles of travel, we’d reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one million tons!

7) Having family and friends over during the holidays for a meal? By planning out portions, you minimize waste. At least 28 billion pounds of edible food is wasted each year. That is about 100 pounds per person according to the authors. To help reduce waste, here is a guide for some common holiday foods/drinks:

FOOD/DRINK : PORTION PER PERSON
Eggnog : 1/2 cup
Turkey : approximately 1 pound
Stuffing : 1/4 pound
Sweet Potato Casserole : 1/4 pound
Green Beans : 1/4 pound
Cranberry relish : 3 tablespoons
Pumpkin Pie : 1/8 of a 9" pie

8) Having a party? Turn down the heat before the party (if it’s cold outside) and let your guests heat up the room with body heat.

9) And, last but not least, think through all purchases you make. Lilienfeld and Rathje state Americans throw away 25% more trash during the holidays more than any other time of year. The extra waste amounts about one million extra tons per week.

To get even more ideas, check out their book. Happy Holidays!