Make Winter Holiday Cleanup Greener Next Time Around

Each year from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day the United States creates an excessive amount of trash. The winter holidays kick off more eating and gift giving than any other time of the year. A colleague and I were trying to figure out if it would be possible to cut back on trash. "Everyone's not going to go out and purchase eco-friendly gifts," he said. We finally decided that the best thing to do would be to dispose of garbage responsibly.

While it's easier to take the same old approach - use the same plastic bags and dump everything in one bag - with a little ingenuity and planning, it will be just as easy to take the eco-friendly route. For example, today apartments can benefit from having indoor compost by Nature Mill. The compost is small enough to fit inside a cabinet or stand inconspicuously in the kitchen.

Doing research before hand and making preparations is essential. It could become a fun project for the whole family with each person playing a special part in the cleanup process.

How can we cut back on all of the trash? Here are a few ideas:

Call your city or town office: Ask about eco-friendly ways to dispose of garbage. Request plastic bins or whatever else would be required for disposal. Prepare to set up biodegradable disposal bags or plastic boxes to hold garbage for pickup or drop-off.

Sort out your plan ahead of time: A plan will create clarity and cleanup will go a lot faster!

Make it fun for the kids: Get the kids involved by asking them to help with a color coded labeling system to identify the different types of garbage. Younger children will be happy to help when they understand what goes where. Play music or make up funny songs! Help them to understand that they are helping to take care of the earth.

Pets: Don't forget about disposing of waste from your pets. I used biodegradable bags when walking my Beagle. Available in different sizes, dog waste bags are useful for used cat litter, and small animals such as birds, rabbits, hamsters, and more.

Consider purchasing fun, eco-friendly gifts: Today there are more and more places to find environmentally friendly gifts for everyone. Many places carry items for the whole family. A quick Google search brought up a few places to check out: nigel's eco store, gifts.com, findgift.com.