The holiday season may be the most wonderful time of the year for many of us, but it's also one of our most wasteful. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the amount of waste produced by households in the United States can increase by 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Further analysis conducted by the Center for Biological Diversity in 2021 backs up those numbers, estimating that Americans create 5.8 million tons more waste in December than other months. That's equivalent to the weight of 28,713 Boeing 747 airplanes. It's not just the US, though. Look up the stats for many other countries and they tell similar stories'in fact Canada and the UK fare a little worse. The good news is there are things that can be done, and as much as 80 percent of this waste can be reused, repurposed, or recycled. Whatever you wrap your presents in, it's probably getting tossed, so this is a big source of waste. The easiest rule to follow for gift bags and wrapping...
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