Americans add approximately four million tons of gift wrap to landfill in just the last quarter. This is a statistic we can change by following “the three Rs.”

Eco-Friendly Gift Wrapping Tips

Reduce:

Avoid layers of wrapping paper that are discarded seconds after opening. Instead, let your gift speak for itself with minimal wrapping. Add a thoughtful, handmade tag with a personalized message. Garnish naturally with sprigs of greenery, a pinecone, found bird feathers, or the end of a skein of yarn.

Re-use:

It’s time to rethink single-use items, like traditional wrapping paper. Enter furoshiki – the zero-waste Japanese art of wrapping with fabrics that you can use again and again. Take this a step further by wrapping your gift in a secondary gift: a tea towel, a cloth napkin, even a scarf that the recipient can reuse.

Recycle:

Give a second life to newspaper, an old map, pages from a tattered book, or even a brown paper bag. Create bands of contrasting papers for rich visual effects. Ecoprint with floral waste or windfall botanicals. Save ribbon and scraps of yarn all year round and deploy them now in braids or single strands. Creative reuse centers provide a veritable trove of found and donated materials. Remember not to add glitter, sparkles, plastics, or other non-recyclable elements: these create downstream consequences that are easily avoided.

Story by Anne Reynolds
Styling by Quelcy Kogel
Photography by Erin Kelly
Materials from Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse

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