City of Kingston, Ont. encouraging residents to go ‘green’ this Christmas

Christmas is gift-giving season, and millions of people across Ontario will be busy wrapping up gifts from loved ones on the big day.

However, this can be more harmful from an environmental perspective than most may think.

“Conventional wrapping papers, just because of the amount of dye in them, they’re not actually recyclable,” said Eden Cameron, the City of Kingston’s waste services co-ordinator.

Instead, this year, the City of Kingston is suggesting people think outside of the “gift box” when they’re wrapping up a present for that special someone.

“Things like craft paper, or newspaper, which is recyclable in your grey box, or even looking at something like reusable fabrics, gift bags, boxes,” she added.

Cameron says that this is part of the city’s efforts to divert 65 per cent of waste away from landfill sites, something that is made difficult when it comes to the colourful wrapping papers we see every year.

Geoff Hendry from Sustainable Kingston agrees with the city’s initiative, and said another way you can keep it green is buying used items to give as gifts.

“Obviously there’s the fact that the item, the toy or the piece of clothing or whatever it is, has a second life and isn’t going to landfill, but also, a lot of that doesn’t come with packaging,” he said.

According to both Cameron and Hendry, the green efforts don’t stop under the Christmas tree, but they can be made in the kitchen as well.

“The more you can meal plan and really plan out the amount of food you’re having, you’ll throw out a lot less food, which is great,” he added.

So this year, instead of using your fingers to tie a bow around your gifts, consider using your “green” thumb instead.