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News Release 570
DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES OFFERS
GREEN TIPS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Volume 35-570 |
Contact: Renee Bungart |
(For immediate release) |
573-751-4465 |
JEFFERSON CITY, MO, DEC. 6, 2007 -- In the holiday excitement over family, friends, gifts, food and travel, it is easy to forget about the waste produced this time of year. On average, Americans produce 1 million extra tons of waste per week between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Careful planning before and after the holidays can reduce the amount of related waste that ends up in the state's landfills, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
To keep your holidays green you can do a few things differently this year:
- Buy gifts and products made of recycled materials.
- Buy rechargeable batteries to go with new electronic toys. Information on recycling of rechargeable batteries is available on www.rbrc.org. Collection sites for used batteries are often available at Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, Target, Sears, Black and Decker, Best Buy, Circuit City and Home Depot. To save gasoline, call before you make the trip.
- Purchase gifts with minimal packaging so there is less to throw away.
- Give environmentally friendly gifts to friends and family. For example, cloth napkins and tablecloths, cloth shopping bags, gift certificates, lamps designed for compact fluorescent bulbs, lunch boxes, recycling bins or personalized stationary made from recycled paper.
- Reuse glass jars by creating homemade snow globes or filling them with cookie and cake mixes. Instructions are available on the Internet.
- Reuse holiday wrapping from last year or color in the comics in your newspaper for wrapping gifts. Put gifts in decorative tins or boxes instead of throwaway wrapping materials. Use and reuse decorative gift bags.
- Use your imagination in trimming the tree or yard for the holidays. Recondition that string of lights. String popcorn around your tree and then place it in your yard afterward for the birds to munch on. Create paper snowflakes with paper you would normally have thrown away. Crafts with cardboard, Popsicle sticks, old calendar photos and old holiday cards make fun activities for kids and adults alike.
- Recycle your Christmas tree. The most popular method is chipping the trees to be used for mulch, but it can also be turned into a fish or wildlife habitat. The Department of Natural Resources has a fact sheet available on proper disposal of Christmas trees on its Web site at www.dnr.mo.gov/pubs/pub184.pdf. To compensate for the harvest of your Christmas tree, arrange to plant a new tree next spring. Artificial trees are another way to decorate and will last for several years.
- If you or your families receive new electronics including computers, printers, TVs, hand-held devices and cell phones and are not sure what to do with the old one, you may be able to recycle it. For a list of electronics recyclers registered with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, visit the e-cycle Missouri Web site at www.e-cyclemo.org or call 800-361-4827.
With just a little creativity, you can help alleviate the year-end bulge in our landfills. For more information on recycling, reuse and composting, contact the department's Solid Waste Management Program at 800-361-4827 or 573-751-5401 or by e-mail at swmp@dnr.mo.gov. Or you can visit our Web site at www.dnr.mo.gov/env/swmp. Have a fun, safe and green holiday season!
For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of the department's upcoming meetings, hearings and events, visit the department's online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.
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