Raid the recycling bin, eat the leftovers, and give 🌲s.

Casting about for the topic for my next newsletter, my friend Jenna suggested I write about sustainable gift wrapping. I was a little reluctant to write about something so niche and, well, small, but I thought about my own habit of raiding the recycling bin for supplies and I decided there might be something there. 

I’ll confess I may be a little extreme in my aversion to conventional wrapping paper. Recently a gift giver commented that I’d trained my seven-year-old son well after watching him carefully pull wrapping paper apart at the tape lines, so that the paper could be used again. I don’t think I ever consciously told him not to rip into presents wildly, but he’s certainly seen me and his grandmother methodically unwrap gifts. My mom always had an eye out for what could be reused, but less from a tree-hugging perspective than an old-school aversion to waste. That instinct to save something to be used another day is at the heart of living small: It’s thrifty and resourceful. 

In my family, the aim is still a beautiful gift, but no one bats an eyelash at a slightly wrinkled gift bag or even a cut-up grocery store sack in lieu of wrapping paper. My fam has also been recycling the same collection of red, white and green ribbons for years. (The dark green grosgrain ribbons that came on long-ago Williams-Sonoma wedding gifts have lived many lives!) 

I wrote last week about and upcycling wrapping is exactly one of those little habit shifts. There are bigger questions to ask about climate and all the gift-giving holidays, but most of us will still be buying and wrapping gifts this December—and we can do our best with that. I believe small actions like giving secondhand or homemade gifts and wrapping your presents in your recycling can actually add up, in part because of the message those actions send to the kids in our lives. (They are always paying attention.)

Another thing to note about gift wrap is that most wrapping paper is not recyclable—sorry! Anything shiny, metallic, plastic-y feeling, and really most colorful papers cannot be recycled. If you’re not sure if a paper is recyclable, don’t just stuff it into the recycling bin. When in doubt, it’s actually better to throw it out: All those forms of plastic coating wreck havoc on paper recycling facilities. Fair warning: Once you’ve filled a trash bag with wrapping without the wishful thinking that it can be recycled, you may be even more motivated to come around to raiding the trash for supplies. Here are some of my favorite ideas for upcycled wrappings:

Apologies for the amateur photos: I'm just scrounging my iPhone library for images. Real life, friends.

Nice newspaper

The lifestyle sections of a newspaper are great for wrapping gifts–I especially like to use a couple sheets newspaper for large gifts. You want to be a little strategic about how you position the images. We buy the Financial Times with some regularity and I love the paper’s pink newsprint for gifts. (PS, the FT is way ahead of U.S. newspapers with their coverage of sustainable lifestyle in both the House & Home section and their weekend magazine.) If you live somewhere where your local paper still comes with the “funny pages” definitely save those for kid gifts.

Shopping bags

If you get lucky and get a plain shopping bag with no logo, definitely save this! They are great for quick wrapping and oddly-shaped gifts, and if you add tissue paper and colorful upcycled ribbon, you’ll have a very handsome gift indeed. If the paper is matte, you could also draw on it, or even better, let your child.

Any and all brown paper

“Brown paper packages tied up with string…” Brown paper has a certain old-timey charm, and even the humble grocery store bag makes a nice piece of wrapping paper if you cut it open and turn the store’s logo to the inside. Packages often come shipped with plain brown paper crumpled up inside the box; smooth this out and you’ve got some free wrapping paper. You can also buy a roll of basic brown kraft paper, which is both recyclable and compostable (shred it first, if composting). 

Cloth

Silky scarves, bandanas, dish towels, and fabric scraps can all be used to wrap gifts. There are about a gazillion blog posts about how to do this furoshiki-inspired style of wrapping in cloth, but here’s a one-pager from the Japan’s Ministry of the Environment. Additionally, all those canvas tote bags you have lying around can easily become gift wrap (I often just turn them inside out).

Secondhand wrapping supplies

Browsing our favorite secondhand shops last weekend, I saw that the shop had rolls of unused wrapping paper for sale for $1! It’s definitely worth checking the holiday section at thrift stores for ribbons, gift bags, and if you’re lucky, whole rolls of paper.

Oops! Last week I failed to actually link to this incredible article about what sustainability looks like in Uruguay, here it is.

writing.

Last December, I wrote about how to give gifts that won’t eventually feel like excess in a small home and how to (politely) deal with unwanted gifts.

reading.

A holiday reminder that food expiration dates are meaningless. Do you all taste/smell food before tossing or go by date? I'm willing to taste unless actually green or furry.

giving.

I love climate writer Sami Grover's idea for a "forever forest" gift to his daughters. (I also enjoyed his book We’re All Climate Hypocrites Now.)