For the holiday season Metro Vancouver is adding a fourth 'R' to that old mantra "reduce, reuse and recycle."
"Rethink!"
Christmas shouldn't be a synonym for consumption and there are many ways to go green over the holiday season, says Metro Vancouver spokesperson Lucy Duso.
"It's the garbage that we want people to think about," she says of a projected 5,000 tonne increase for landfills in January over December.
"The physical act of hauling waste from our houses to the waste transfer stations ... is an increase in our carbon footprint."
During the holiday rush it's easy to get carried away, but it's important to take a moment to stop and think about what's being done.
"A lot of what we try to encourage people to do is think about what kind of decisions do I have to make before I make my purchases around waste reduction," Duso says.
Just don't hang your toque on recycling alone to get you through the next couple weeks because lugging old junk away still has some negative environmental impacts.
"It's easy for a mind to jump to the recycle option but it's a little harder for all of use to think about the reduce portion," she says.
Tips to green your consciousness
Metro Vancouver's Zero Waste Challenge is on through the holidays. Here are tips to go green:
- When trying to decide between two gifts, choose the one with the least amount of packaging.
- Offer your services or expertise as a present. Make dinner or plan a special day out.
- Dinner, tickets to the movies or a hockey game.
- Pass on a family heirloom.
- Pool resources with a few people to give a high quality gift.
- Give a gift wrapped in newspaper. Reuse a ribbon to fancy it up.
NUMBERS
Going green during the holidays isn't exactly a priority for most Canadians.
- Statistics by Waste Management Inc.'s Ipsos Reid survey.
E-Cards for Christmas
Do - 23 %
Don't - 77%
Re-using wrapping paper
Do - 14%
Don't - 86%
Using reusable gift bags
Do - 24%
Don't - 76%
Recycle Christmas tree
Do - 75%
Don't - 25%
