| Gift giving is a tradition that has been practiced | | | | bags, you can learn to make them yourself using |
| for years, especially during Christmas season. | | | | paper. If you know how to use a sewing machine, |
| Thousands of dollars are spent each year on | | | | you can even sew your own gift bags using |
| wrapping paper, gift bags, and ribbons. | | | | natural material like spun silk or excess fabric |
| Unfortunately, all these wrapping materials | | | | from your own quilting stash. Fabric gift bags are |
| become wastes within minutes on Christmas day | | | | washable and reusable; hence, the recipients can |
| itself. However, we can do our part on preserving | | | | use them for other purposes. |
| the environment by planning our gift-giving | | | | There are other alternatives that are greener |
| tradition and using greener wrapping materials. | | | | than synthetic ribbons. You can use natural fiber |
| Many manufacturers produce handmade wrapping | | | | raffia ribbons to tie up your gifts. Use packing |
| papers that are tree-free. These sheets of | | | | tape that is polyvinyl chloride (PVC) free, as PVC |
| wrapping paper are obtainable in various natural | | | | releases carcinogenic dioxins when the packing |
| materials, such as woven grass, tree bark, spun | | | | tape is being produced. You can also use recycled |
| silk, banana fiber, hemp, and lokta. Lokta paper is | | | | gummed paper tape or clear cellulose tape. |
| made from the inner bark of lokta bush, which | | | | Instead of using ribbons to accentuate your gifts, |
| grow plentiful in Nepal. The lokta bushes grow | | | | you can try decorating those using reusable items |
| very quickly, which makes them as great paper | | | | such as handmade ornaments and cookie cutters. |
| making sources. On the other hand, banana paper | | | | Even fresh herbs can be used to decorate your |
| is made from the fiber off banana tree barks, | | | | gifts. You can also make your own gift tags using |
| commonly found in Asian countries. Other | | | | recycled materials that you can find at home, |
| materials used to make green wrapping paper are | | | | making them very personalized but cost-effective. |
| recycled office paper and recycled rags. When | | | | When purchasing recycled products, you can find |
| purchasing recycled wrapping paper, watch for | | | | online retailers that offer green shipping options. |
| products with 100 percent post-consumer waste | | | | Some websites donate a small percentage of |
| (PCW) content and processed chlorine-free (PCF) | | | | their customers' purchases towards environmental |
| paper products. This means that no additional | | | | campaigns, such as tree-planting projects and |
| chlorine was used to bleach the recycled paper | | | | awareness programs. Certain websites offer |
| product. | | | | gift-wrapping service using tree-free materials like |
| Besides using recycled wrapping paper and gift | | | | silk scarves and other materials that have high |
| bags, you can also get a little creative by using old | | | | PCW content. You can also save on gas by |
| posters or magazines as wrapping paper. If you | | | | purchasing online and having your items delivered |
| are crafty, you can use newspaper pages, | | | | to you. There are many other ways to preserve |
| decorate them with fun colors, and design them | | | | the environment, but you can do your part just |
| to make your gifts look more personalized. You | | | | by making small changes in your lifestyle, starting |
| can learn to make your own paper by following | | | | this holiday season. |
| paper making tutorials available online. As for gift | | | | |