Christmas trees, ornaments, lights, contagious laughter and love… This is what we picture when we think about the holiday season. It is one of the most beautiful seasons. It is that moment of the year when everything just seems perfect. Unfortunately, everything is not perfect for our planet. The holidays are among the most environmentally detrimental times of the year. Landfills overflowing with over 70 billion pounds of food waste, $16 billion of unwanted holiday gifts, $96 to $120 billion of returned gifts… this is the reality behind our overconsumption during the holidays. These excessive practices come with a priceless cost to our environment. It is time to lead by example and be mindful of how our actions are impacting our planet. Here are a few ways that we can, as state agencies, reduce our environmental impact during the holidays.
Holiday Parties
We always look forward to tasting delicious meals during holiday parties. There are so many amazing local, small restaurants located around your office. By purchasing food locally, you will be supporting your local businesses and reducing transportation emissions. It is also beneficial to plan and estimate your food purchases to avoid excess. And instead of throwing away the leftover food, share it with other sister agencies in the same building, I am sure your colleagues will appreciate the offer!
Plastic utensils and bags tend to be primarily used during holiday parties, despite the fact that they do not biodegrade and linger around in the environment forever. It is preferable to minimize our plastic usage as much as possible by encouraging everyone to bring their own reusable utensils or by making biodegradable utensils and plates available, if you have access to composting.
Talking about composting, many state buildings such as 450 Columbus Boulevard and 165 Capitol Avenue have a composting system in place for any of your leftover food. Make sure to utilize them accordingly to divert as much food waste as possible from the landfills. There are also lots of paper and cardboard waste from gift wrapping and other packaging. As long as they are not soiled with food, the paper and cardboard waste should be discarded in your single-stream recycling bin.
Office decorations
It is so heartwarming to come to your office and find a well-decorated Christmas tree, with colorful garlands and ornaments. Holiday lights are the perfect addition to make the decorations harmonious and joyous. However, excessive holiday lights have been found to have adverse effects on our environment. A study conducted by the US Department of Energy has found that 6.6 billion kwh of electricity are used annually, just for holiday lights. That is more than the annual electricity consumption of El Salvador! This amount of electricity consumed comes along with detrimental greenhouse emissions during its production from fossil fuels. Furthermore, external holiday lighting is associated with light pollution that disrupts the functioning of certain nocturnal animals who depend on the darkness of the night for their vital processes.
If office decorations are a must for you during the holidays, you can still enjoy them while reducing the environmental impact associated with them. One way to do that is by reusing your decorations from previous years. That will save you the money and energy required to purchase them, and it would allow you to participate in efforts to reduce the excessive use of resources to make the decorations. Furthermore, let’s make sure we turn off our holiday decorations when we are in the office. There is no need for the Christmas tree to be lit when no one is admiring it!
Fun and environmental consciousness can go hand in hand. We can enjoy ourselves in these happy moments while being kinder to our planet and appreciating all the services it gifts us. Happy holidays!
