During the holidays, there is a lot of wish-cycling. Putting non-recyclable items into the recycling bins and hoping they will be recycled, does not mean they actually get recycled. This holiday season make sure your wishing doesn't include wish-cycling.
Reducing, reusing, and recycling are all our holiday must-do lists. While we can't recycling regular wrapping paper here in Midland, we can reuse and repurpose it. We can even take brown paper, magazines, and old newspapers to repurpose into wrapping paper. If you add some stamps or paint, they become more one of a kind.
Don't forget to reuse the gift bags, boxes, and tissue paper, too. Twine and sprigs of evergreens, rosemary, eucalyptus, holly berries or pinecones make great recyclable decorations.
Cut Christmas trees can be mulched and artificial trees can be reused for many years. Living trees can be enjoyed year-round after you plant them. You can even make a crafty-tree that reuses all sorts of items. From lights on a wall to leftover wrapping paper, to photos in a tree shape make interesting and unique trees for your family holidays.
Use rechargeable batteries this year. They are more convenient, perform better, and they are produce much less waste so they are btter for our environment.
LED holiday lights use 75% less energy. So you can be just like the Griswolds but you won't knock out the city's power grid and your energy bill won't break your bank. They don't heat up as much so they are also much less of a fire hazard. The best part - they last up to 25 times longer than the incandescent bulbs.
While we can't recycle holiday lights here in Midland, you can ship your broken lights to Christmas Light Source in Dallas. Send your lights to them, get a discount code for new lights, AND when they recycle these lights, they take the proceeds to buy books, educational games, puzzles and toys to for donation to the DFW Marine Toys For Tots Foundation.
