Making the Holiday Season More Sustainable

American households generate 25% more waste between Thanksgiving and New Year's. Thankfully, there are many simple and easy things that you can do to make the holidays kinder on our environment.

Sustainable gift wrapping

Each year Americans use 4.6 million pounds of wrapping paper. Paper with coatings, glitter, foil, bows, etc. is usually not recyclable and can even jam up expensive machinery. Generally, if you can scrunch it up and it stays in a tight ball, it is paper-based and can be recycled.

Instead of buying new gift wrapping, reuse what you already own: old maps, posters, magazines, craft paper, wall paper scraps, last year’s calendar, and any other decorative paper-products you have laying around. Paper gift bags can be reused multiple times, while fabric gift bags will last even longer.

Save energy on holiday decorations

Many homes put up strings of lights and other outdoor decorations for 2-3 months during the holidays. That can add up to lot of energy usage and higher bills.

Incandescent outdoor bulbs burn up to nine times more energy than light emitting diode lights (LEDs.) Though they cost a bit more, LEDs produce less heat, last longer and shine brighter. You can save even more energy and money by lighting big spaces with LED projectors.

Daylight sensing timers, or even regular timers, make sure holiday lights are only on when they should be, so none of that holiday spirit goes to waste.

Constantly running fans for inflatables will also run up electric bills. So please use inflatables sparingly, and definitely turn them off at night when no one can see them.

Recycle the Christmas tree

The easiest and most environmental thing you can do with a Christmas tree? Create a brush pile in your yard for wildlife!

A brush pile often consists of leaves, logs, and twigs, so an old Christmas tree can make a great base. It directly benefits the wildlife in your backyard during winter months because brush piles and dead trees offer food and needed protection from the weather.

Alternatively, the township will collect Christmas trees each week in January. Please remove all tinsel, lights, and decorations from Christmas trees prior to collection. Place trees on your curb, not in the street.

The Madison NJ Environmental Commission generously invited our township officials and volunteers to attend a webinar with Dr. Douglas Tallamy, a nationally renowned expert on native plants and biodiversity.

Dr. Tallamy explained how landscaping residential properties with just a few keystone native plants can efficiently and quickly restore the balance of nature. Dr. Tallamy gives specific examples using his own property, a former dairy farm that was restored to a native habitat for wildlife in just a few years.

We urge you to watch the video recording of this webinar. It is the most enlightening description of this important topic we've ever seen.

Never heard of the Asian Jumping Worm? Don't worry, until recently neither had we. But now many environmental groups are warning the public about this new invasive species that actually degrades soil instead of enhancing it.

Because of unintended human assistance, these worms are already established in many of our yards and parks. Stopping the spread into new sites is the most important thing we can do to help. This highly informative PDF from Cornell University explains what you can do now.

Native Plant of the Month: Christmas Fern

In association with Grow It Green Morristown, the Environmental Commission of Morris Township is pleased to announce the return of the Winter Farmers Market at the Convent train stain parking lot.

Every other week, the EC will have a tabletop information display and give away wildflower seeds. Learn more here.

How You Can Help:

• Join our email list and forward this newsletter to a neighbor
• Attend the next EC meeting on November 13th @ 7pm
• Email a reply to give us feedback or volunteer