Christmas is a time of giving!

This year try giving back to the environment by reducing the impact of the holiday season. In fact, Americans produce about 1 million extra tons of trash around the holidays, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Having a ‘Green’ Christmas is not about going without; it’s about using your imagination to show extra care for the environment during the holiday season.

Here are a couple of simple tips on having a ‘Green’ Christmas, this year:

Homemade gifts, cards, and decorations! When it comes to cards, gift tags, and wrapping, there is a lot of waste involve.

• Making your own gifts at Christmas time is an excellent way of ensuring they’re eco-friendly and well within budget
• There are an infinite number of possibilities, with a bit of creativity and imagination

Alternatives to wrapping paper! In the US, the annual trash from gift-wrap and shopping bags totals over 4 million tons.

• Use environmentally friendly wrapping paper
• Avoid buying glossy foil or metallic wrapping paper
• Reuse gift-wrap where possible

Low impact of holiday lighting! A smaller presentation of lights can still be attractive and can lower your electricity bill during the holidays.

• Use LED lights to decorate the outside and lighting the Christmas tree
• Reduce the size of outdoor and indoor lighting displays
• Turn tree lights and outdoor house decorative lighting on at bedtime

Choose a live tree! Although plastic Christmas trees are reusable from year to year, real trees are the more sustainable choice.

• When Christmas passes, the tree is 100% biodegradable and recyclable (Visit the City of Torrance website for more information on Christmas tree recycling in Torrance)
• Old trees can be turned into wood chips to use in compost and mulch to further nourish your soil