Zero Waste Gift Wrapping

Canadians create 540,000 tonnes of waste from gift wrapping and gift bags over the course of a year. That’s the equivalent of about four CN Tower’s!

Each Canadian ends up tossing about 110 pounds of garbage over the holidays. Since many of these products can’t be recycled, they end up in the landfill.

Now is the time to green our gifting. Here are some tips and techniques to reuse what we have, and ditch the waste:

1. Switch out the tape. Folding up a gift the same way as with tape and using (or reusing!) twine is simple and waste free(er).

2. Use foraged decor. Taking a walk and picking up a few pine or cedar branches, pine cones, berries, or leaves make for beautiful bows and ribbons. When the gifts are unwrapped, the greens can be returned to nature.

3. Use magazines. The bright colours and thick paper make for excellent, creative wrapping.

4. Save a newspaper. Grabbing one from around the home or from a local café saves it from becoming waste, and makes for an informative gift!

5. Use a vintage shirt. Check out videos on how to upcycle an old or thrifted shirt into creative wrapping.

6. DIY gift bags. Have some cardboard about to be recycled? Grab it and cut it into DIY gift bags instead!

7. Reuse paper bags. Any bags that are in good shape can be dolled up to create a lovely, waste-free gift bag!

8. Make your own cards. Reusing pretty cards for gift tags saves them from going to the waste, and means we don’t have to buy anything new.

9. Get creative with kids. Kids often make lots of art. With their consent, use their crafts in place of wrapping paper for a creative and waste-free gift.

10. Repurpose cloths and linens. Any old, clean fabrics make for a lovely wrapping. The Japanese practice of Furoshiki fabric wrapping is a great place to look for techniques.