It’s a Wrap!

The easiest way to do your holiday shopping is to have someone else do it for you!  And we can help with that!

If there’s a certain Earth-loving, tree-hugging, litter-hating person on your gift list, we’ve got the perfect gift idea.  With a $100 minimum donation to Keep Virginia Beautiful, we will ship (to you or someone you choose) a Deluxe Cleanup Kit!  Each kit includes a trash sturdy trash grabber, Class 3 safety vest, trash bags, recycling bags, and reusable cotton work gloves, to make litter cleanups easier and safer!  Send your donation and gift list our way, and we’ll wrap up your holiday shopping (while supplies last)!

Speaking of wrapping, this year is good time add few little Earth-loving habits to your holiday season.  Much of the holiday wrapping paper is not recyclable, especially shiny, textured, glitter, and foil papers – not to mention paper with packing tape, ribbons, and bows stuck to it.  And you can unintentionally cause an entire container of otherwise recyclable paper by contaminating it with unrecyclable items.  Likewise, greeting cards with glitter and foil are a “nightmare after Christmas” for recycling centers.  Best to leave them out of your recycling bin.

There are a lot of alternatives to purchasing new wrapping paper for your presents!  Furoshiki, the Art of Japanese fabric wrapping is easy and beautiful.  Stores are now selling cloth for this purpose, and teaching us how to use it.  But even without a talent for the Japanese art form, you can fold a favorite team’s game shirt around a box and secure it with twine, for a double duty gift wrap!

Other simple substitutes to traditional wrapping paper:

– reuse the box or shipping envelope your online purchase are delivered in with a little creativity, using paint, decoupage with maps, magazine pages, old posters;
– natural materials such as pine cones, pine twigs, cinnamon sticks, twigs, and twine make wonderful alternative to plastic bows;
– a trip to your local second-hand store can yield scarves, baskets, and other containers to use for gift giving.

Suggest that your friends and family either not wrap presents, or use repurposed items for their gifts.  Challenge your Secret Santa groups to come up with the funniest or most creative wrapping.  It’s good for the environment!