For the Love of Green: Smart Holiday Shopping Tips

November 30th, 2009

The holiday shopping season is officially upon us and if you haven’t crossed everyone off your list yet, we thought it would be helpful to share some tips on how to be a bit more eco-friendly during this yearly ritual of  mass purchasing and consumption. And the good part, not only will these tips help you be more green, they may just save you some green too. 

1. Get organized: Write down all your gifts and consolidate your shopping trips. Don’t drive to far away stores to pick up one or two things. That’s a big waste of emissions. Plan to hit a few stores on one big trip.
2. Bring reusable shopping bags. These bags are not just for the grocery store; why not bring them to the mall as well? Makes good sense.
3. Shop online. This is a bit obvious, but it’s worth repeating. Because you are not driving anywhere, you’re saving on fossil fuels and emissions.
4. Buy locally. Look for vendors who are local—farmers, craftspeople, etc.—and support them. You know their products didn’t travel across an ocean to get to you. Energy is saved and pollution is reduced.
5. Green gift wrapping: Use recycled papers, newspapers or fabric to wrap and decorate packages. Make bows out of fabric ribbon instead of the plastic kind; these take a long time to decompose and can give off toxic fumes when burned.
6. Rechargeable batteries: Consider buying rechargeable batteries and include a charger as part of the gift. This will cut down dramatically on the amount of discarded batteries that end up polluting the earth.
7. Make it with love: Make homemade gifts, and if they’re edible, even better. This way, you are showing great affection (it takes thought and effort to cook/bake/assemble something) and when the gift is consumed, all that is left over is a handy jar or container.
8. Save the paper: This is tough with kids, since they have very little patience opening gifts, but a lot of wrapping paper can be saved with a little careful ripping. Especially on big toy packages. There is easily enough usable paper to be saved for small packages next year.
9. Give green gifts: Help spread the word about the importance of saving our earth. Look for gifts with eco-labels, made out of recycled products or that help people become more green. Reduce WaterWeek bottles are attractive and giving them will encourage the recipient to stop buying wasteful disposable water bottles.
10. Gift Cards: There’s the constant debate whether gift cards are the lazy man’s way out, with that aside, it is a great green solution. Your loved one gets to pick out what they really want, reducing the amount of unwanted items ending up in the Goodwill bin.

That’s it. No doubt, there are many more ways to be green this season. Hopefully, we can all keep some of these tips in mind as we hit the stores, whether brick and mortar or online. Keep thinking green and you may save some green.

–Ken Kreafle, CEO of Base Brands 

Entry Filed under: Blog, Go Green, Reduce Products, Water Week